Finally, Kozhikode authorities wake up to their plight

Hundreds of vehicles were blocked by the agitators during the stir that lasted for almost an hour. The residents called off the protest following the Collector’s promise.

July 23, 2014 10:22 am | Updated 10:22 am IST - Kozhikode

Residents of Thazhathepeedika, Puthiyappa, in Kozhikode blocking the Beach road on Tuesday demanding measures to solve the drinking water problems faced by the area. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Residents of Thazhathepeedika, Puthiyappa, in Kozhikode blocking the Beach road on Tuesday demanding measures to solve the drinking water problems faced by the area. Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

An emergency meeting called by District Collector C.A. Latha with the representatives of agitators who blocked the Beach road at Thazhathepeedika, near Puthiyappa, here protesting against the Kerala Water Authority’s (KWA) alleged neglect towards them has decided to adopt “urgent measures” to make drinking water available to nearly 70 residents in the area.

“The KWA officials have been directed to make necessary arrangements to make drinking water available to the residents of the area within two days,” Ms. Latha told The Hindu . She said a KWA project was already under way to make drinking water available to the residents in the region. “The work for the Rs.30-akh project was about to start after completing the tender work,” she said. Ms. Latha maintained that the officials had been, however, given direction to find a short-term, but urgent solution, until the main project was commissioned. On Tuesday morning, nearly 200 people, including women and children, had laid siege to the Beach road at Thazhathepeedika demanding immediate solution to the drinking water problem they had been facing for the past two years. A widening project of the Beach road had rendered four of the public taps meant for them dry.

“We were tired of submitting memorandums and representations to different authorities, including to the Chief Minister, MLA and MP,” said P. Peethambaran, a resident of the area and president of the Kozhikode North constituency committee of the Bharatiya Janatha Party, which led the agitation. The protesters carried along with them water pots and buckets and sat on the road raising slogans against the “neglect” of the KWA authorities.

Hundreds of vehicles were blocked by the agitators during the stir that lasted for almost an hour. The residents called off the protest following the Collector’s promise, said Mr. Peethambaran.

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