The People’s Committee of Pottammal New Water Tank area in the city staged a dharna in front of the Kerala Water Authority’s water tank at Pottammal here on Thursday stating that nearly 300 residents in the area have not been getting drinking water for the past several months.
The protesters maintained that they took to the agitation when their plight remained unchanged even after the commissioning of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-aided drinking water project in the district.
The residents said that they had been buying drinking water for the past several months by paying agents who brought water to the area in tanker lorries. “This is despite the fact that a 20-lakh -litre capacity water tank of the JICA project was commissioned in the area recently,” they said. The residents had been promised by the authorities that the water scarcity in the area would be solved once the JICA project was commissioned. “But nothing changed even after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy commissioning the project last week,” said the protesters.
The committee members said that the dharna was only a token strike against the negligence of the authorities towards one of the most vital needs of the residents. “We will strengthen the agitation if the authorities’ indifference continues,” they said.