Their sufferings know no bound because the locality is mainly dependent on two private pumps instead of a Wasa line for drinking water.

About 60,000 people live in Enayet Bazar ward under the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC). Of them, 15,000 live at Goalpara, including 8,000 dwellers in Malipara and Tulatali slums. Most of them belong to poor, lower middle and middle classes. Some railway staff quarters are also located there.

MA Malek, the three-time elected commissioner of the ward, installed two pumps in 1996 on Millat Club premises and Kedarnath Colony in a bid to reduce the acute water crisis at the area.

People are seen each day standing in long queues at seven points to collect their water supplied from the two pumps. They retrieve water twice for two hours in the morning and in the evening free of cost.

Unbelievably, the Goalpara residents had no source of water supply at their doorsteps before the ward commissioner's initiative! They had to buy water from railway quarters, which has limited supply lines from railway authorities for its staffs.

The two pumps were not enough to meet their daily demand and they were badly looking for a permanent solution in this regard. But the Wasa remained unmoved to all their appeals.

Finally, Chittagong Wasa responded positively in 1997 and installed a big pump near the ward commissioner's office.

The residents, however, alleged that the water supply from the Wasa pump is erratic and insufficient.

"I can not remember the last date when I got properly the Wasa water," said garments worker Rehana Begum, a resident of Kedarnath Colony.

She said we need permanent solution, not a temporary one like the installation of pumps. "Connection in each and every residence is the only answer to our sufferings," she added.

Ward commissioner Malek said, "I had to make repeated appeals to the Wasa on behalf of Goalpara people and spent lot of money for connection. But they installed only a big pump which is not sufficient for the area."

He said a process is underway to install three water tanks, each with capacity of 500 gallons, at slum areas under the auspices of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC).

"Hopefully, the installation will be completed within two or three days and the Goalpara people will find another source of water," Malek said. He thanked Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury for the water tanks.

The drinking water crisis in the country's second largest city has also been acute for years. And the demand for it is fast increasing with the growth of population. The authorities were found as complete failure to meet even the 50 per cent of the total demand yet.

The city, with around 40 lakh population, requires over 10 crore gallons of water daily. But Chittagong Wasa can only supply a meagre 3.5 crore gallons.