For nearly three decades, around 400 families living in Moga’s Neher Basti settlement along the Dunneke canal have continued to struggle daily for access to water, relying almost entirely on municipal corporation water tankers and long journeys to distant sources just to meet their basic household needs.
Despite a canal flowing directly beside their settlement, residents say they have lived for years without a permanent water supply system, forcing generations of families to survive under extremely difficult conditions. According to people living in the locality, successive governments and political leaders have repeatedly failed to provide proper water connections to the area, leaving residents dependent on temporary arrangements and uncertain supplies.
Families in Neher Basti said municipal corporation water tankers have become their only reliable source of water. However, tanker deliveries are often irregular and delayed, creating severe hardship for residents, especially during the intense summer season. When tankers fail to arrive on time, people are forced to travel nearly three kilometres using handcarts and containers to collect water from gurudwaras, public taps or other distant locations.
Residents described the daily struggle for water as exhausting and humiliating. Many families reportedly spend hours every day waiting for tankers or carrying heavy containers back home in extreme heat. People said that access to even the most basic necessities such as bathing, washing clothes and drinking clean water has become a constant challenge.
The crisis becomes even more severe during the summer months when temperatures rise sharply across Punjab. Families stated that due to the shortage, children frequently leave for school without bathing because there is simply not enough water available at home. Women and elderly residents also reportedly go without bathing for several days at a time to conserve the limited water they manage to collect.
Residents further explained that the shortage affects every aspect of daily life. Several families said they do not even have enough water to wash clothes regularly, forcing them to reuse unwashed garments for extended periods.
People living in the settlement expressed frustration that despite possessing all required government documents — including Aadhaar cards, voter identity cards and other official records — they continue to be denied a permanent water supply. Residents said they participate in elections and fulfil all civic responsibilities, yet basic infrastructure and public services remain unavailable to them.
Many residents said they have spent most of their lives dealing with the same water crisis without any long-term solution from authorities. According to locals, tanker water has become the community’s only lifeline.
One resident described the situation as a massive water crisis, explaining that families survive entirely on water supplied through tankers because there are no pipelines or permanent facilities in the locality. Another resident said people often wait several days before another tanker arrives, leaving households struggling to manage with whatever water they can store.
A woman identified as Sunita said residents drink whatever water is supplied by tanker operators because they have no alternative source available. She explained that families cannot afford to reject or question the quality of water because survival itself depends on those supplies.
Another local resident pointed out the irony that the settlement exists beside a canal yet continues to suffer from severe water scarcity. Residents stated that authorities no longer release water into the canal, leaving it largely dry for long periods. According to them, if water were allowed to flow through the canal regularly, it could provide at least some relief to nearby families during the harsh summer season.
Residents also spoke emotionally about the long history of hardship in the settlement. Some elderly people said they had spent more than 40 years living under the same conditions without seeing any meaningful improvement. Families stated that poor communities like theirs continue to suffer silently because, in their words, “nobody listens to the poor.”
Many residents said they are not demanding luxury or special treatment from the government. Instead, they only want a regular, reliable and permanent water supply that would allow families to live with basic dignity.
Until such a system is installed, daily life in Neher Basti continues to revolve around the same struggle that has defined the settlement for decades — the struggle to secure enough water for survival.
