Siliguri: The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) will crack down on those who tap water illegally from underground supply lines in many of its wards, in a bid to give uninterrupted water supply to residents. As part of its drive to check the diversion of water, the civic body will conduct raids, slap fine on those found taking water without permission and even seek the help of police to seize their pumps. "In the past couple of weeks, we have received complaints regarding water supply,' said Sharadindu Chakraborty, member, mayor-in-council (water). The civic body supplies drinking water to 36 of its 47 wards with the help of the state public health engineering (PHE) department. It has more than 10,000 water connections. Chakraborty said once a building got sanction from the SMC for water connection, the owner had to construct an underground reservoir for storing water. The water is then pumped from the reservoir. "We received several complaints from the residents that water supply was irregular. After preliminary checking, we noticed that some people were collecting water directly from the service line by using small pumps, causing the irregularities in supply,' said Chakraborty. Last week, officials of the PHE and representatives of the SMC had discussed the problem. The PHE department was asked to take necessary steps in this regard. A senior official of the PHE department said: "When the civic body asked us to take necessary measures to stop the water theft, we told them that our department cannot do much without the help of the civic body.' Chakraborty did not divulge when the raids would be conducted.