Residents of Nellai Thiruthu village near here submitted a petition to Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday seeking her intervention to ensure supply of drinking water to them and two more nearby villages in an orderly manner to avoid frequent clash among the villagers.
In their petition, the Nellai Thiruthu villagers said the hamlet under Manur union, which was getting drinking water from the overhead tank at Alavanthankulam till 2004, later got a separate overhead tank for supplying drinking water to their village with the help of then Alangulam MLA P.G. Rajendran.
When work on laying pipes from the new overhead tank and fitting of the pump was taken up to pump water from the well (the source) at Alavanthankulam, it was opposed by the Alavanthankulam residents that led to an inquiry by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirunelveli.
In peace talks organised at the Collectorate, residents of Nellai Thiruthu, Alavanthankulam and Pallikottai, which werer also getting drinking water from the same overhead tank, participated.
It was decided in the meeting that drinking water would be pumped to the tanks simultaneously and water should be released to the residents by opening the valves simultaneously. If the valves broke down or the pump became inoperable, it should be done only in the presence of the village heads from the three hamlets.
Even as this arrangement was ensuring adequate supply of drinking water to all three villages, the Alavanthankulam residents made an attempt in 2019 to lay additional pipe from the well to the overhead tank in their village at the instance of an individual enjoying political backing. However, the work was stopped by the Gangaikondan police on getting a complaint from the Nellai Thiruthu residents.
“Subsequently, another round of peace talks were organised by the revenue officials on June 29 last, where it was decided to release water to Alavanthankulam, Nellai Thiruthu and Pallikottai on turn basis. Though the representatives from Alavanthankulam agreed to this decision and remained silent for a while, damaged the pipeline carrying drinking water with the ulterior motive of disrupting drinking water supply to the beneficiary villages. To find a permanent solution to this issue, the Collector should instruct the officials to revert back to the older system of pumping of water and release of water from the overhead tank to the villages simultaneously,” the petitioner villagers said.
