The black and muddy liquid in bottles emitting a bad odour which was shown by a few women residents of three streets of Anuppanadi here to officials, who visited the area on Thursday following complaints of sewage mixing with drinking water, was nothing but drinking water supplied through pipelines.
“Though we are not new to sewage mixing with drinking water which happens occasionally and aggravates during the rains, this time it has been a constant issue for two months,” J. Sakunthala, 40, a resident of Deivakani Street for 24 years.
“We have now resorted to buying a pot of water for ₹15 which sometimes is not purified, leading to children even developing fever. We buy two to three pots a day to meet our needs,” she said.
According to J. Lenin, secretary of CPI(M) south zone, the problem of sewage mixing with drinking water was persistent in three streets — Deivakani Street, Christian Street (Ward 88) and Susai Michael Street (ward 89) — having about 150 houses.
Mr. Lenin said, “Officials, including Zone IV (South) Chairperson M. Mukesh Sharma, who came to know that we were planning a protest, requested us to cancel it and promised to do a field inspection.”
“Though we highlighted the issue to Corporation officials and the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) submitted a petition to the Mayor in this regard on June 27, no action was taken,” he said.
He said the officials inspected the ward for about one hour. “Most residents of the area are daily wage labourers or people with meagre income. They are now forced to spend ₹1,000 per month to procure drinking water,” said Mr. Lenin.
The officials had promised to resolve the issue within 25 days and that if they did not, protests would be held, he added.
AIADMK Councillor M. Prema, who also resides in Deivakani Street, said the issue had been raised in all the three zonal meetings, but no action was taken.
“We are the ones who face the wrath of the residents. Cleaning works are often half-done and the issue resurfaces a couple of days later,” she said.
Underground drainage had to be cleaned and many malfunctioning motors in the ward repaired, she said.
When contacted, Mr. Mukesh Sharma said officials had decided to take up works to form test pits to find out where leak or crack had occurred in the sewage pipeline and put an end to the problem within two weeks.
