Dozens of hand-pulled carts packed with water containers trundle across mountain roads near Darjeeling in West Bengal, one of five states that go to the polls on May 10. Some people pull trolleys on a narrow railway line to sell water in the picturesque town after filling containers from a small railway station five km from Darjeeling, where India's costliest and most fragrant tea is grown. Sometimes we have to pay 25 rupees for a bucket of water. Local politicians contesting the assembly elections blamed the ruling leftist alliance, which faces its toughest contest in nearly 25 years of rule, for the scarcity. The main challenger to Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee's Left Front government is Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party which has tied up with the opposition Congress party.
Water shortage is a serious problem in Darjeeling.
Local papers quoted the party's candidate from Darjeeling as saying he would withdraw from the election and back the communists if the state promised more water. The system is just the same as it was in 1948. People complained the water pipes were leaky and supplies from the reservoir, which depends on rain-fed brooks, was inadequate. Officials said scanty rainfall meant the streams that filled the reservoir had dried up, but they were taking steps to supply water. We are supplying 10-15 tankers of water free to people every day.