With temperatures soaring in drinking water has become scarce in a majority of the public areas in Coimbatore, and especially in the bus stands.

The Town Hall bus stand has three facilities where drinking water is available. The Covai Post visited this bus stand that is frequented by several hundred passengers on a daily basis and found water unavailable in all the three places in this bus stand. All the three sported a dusty look making us want to believe that this has been unused for a long time.

“This is just like a showpiece in the bus stand. It has been ages since drinking water is available through any of these pipes,” Kalimuthu R, one of the pushcart vendors in the Town Bus Stand says. There are two other drinking water facilities in the same bus stand. However, while one of them lacked a tumbler, the other one lacked drinking water itself. Both are connected to an overhead water tank which can hold 500 litres of drinking water. However, these two cannot be used by the public.

Selvi Kishore who forgot her water bottle at home was in search of drinking water while waiting for the bus. To her disappointment, there was no water available inside the bus stand. Thus, left with no other option, she had to purchase refreshment from one of the pushcart vendors at the bus stand.

“The pushcart vendors out of fear of losing their business could have disrupted the drinking water supply in the Town Hall Bus stand in Gandhipuram. The weather is hot and for people who are on the move water is the basic requirement during summer. If there is regular supply of drinking water in the bus stand for the public, the pushcart vendors might just lose their business,” says a private bus driver who did not wish to be named.

We reached out to the authority in charge of ensuring that this bus stand had regular supply of water and he had a different story to share.

“The public toilets in this bus stand receive water from the bore-well while a water lorry empties drinking water in both the tanks during the mornings everyday without fail,”Palaniswamy R, caretaker at the Town Bus Stand in Gandhipuram, says.

We brought it to his notice that while one of the drinking water facilities lacks a tumbler and the second lacks water itself, he says: “Every time I place a tumbler, I find that some miscreants steal it, despite having it tied to a chain. In the other tank the public could have used the water to refill their water bottles too, which is why it could have run out of water.”

A word of caution for those who are using the Town Bus Stand, ensure that you carry your water bottles as the heat is showing no signs of being merciful and the Town Bus Stand is constantly struggling to meet the demand for drinking water.