Residents of Ward 52 of Madurai Corporation submitted a petition to the Collector on Monday alleging that water supply to them had been irregular for the last seven months. They were from Meenakshipuram, Venkatapathy Iyengar Street, Sreenivasa Perumal Temple Street and Old English Club Street.
“For the last seven months, most of our streets have been getting erratic water supply. Water, which is supplied to the houses through pipes once in four days, is hardly allowed for an hour and tankers don’t stop at our streets,” a resident said.
In the last few months, a number of residents have filed complaints regarding poor water supply and bad quality of water. In June, the residents of Ismailpuram in Ward 51 (Munichalai) submitted a petition complaining that the little water supplied to them in an irregular manner was also contaminated with sewage.
In their petition submitted on Monday, the residents alleged that no action had been taken to supply water to their houses despite numerous complaints to the area’s Assistant Engineer.
They had to approach people living in neighbouring streets for water, the residents said.
A few residents of DRO Colony could be seen pumping water from the hand pumps installed on the premises of the District Collector’s bungalow in the mornings.
“We are forced to go and beg for water with the residents living in nearby streets, who get supply through taps once in four days. When we try to get water from a tanker sent to a neighbouring street, fights break out since everyone is suffering,” said a resident of Meenakshipuram Fourth Street.
Similarly, in Ward 30, which includes Gomathipuram, residents are solely dependent on water bought from private suppliers.
“There is absolutely no supply of water through taps or corporation tankers in our area. The two common hand pumps in our area, which were removed when the road was laid, have not been re-installed,” said N. Ramasubbu, president of Gomathupuram Thendral Negar Residents’ Association.
