Ramanathapuram
Alleging that they had been facing a water crisis for more than a decade, residents of Pudukadu in A Manakudi panchayat staged protest displaying empty pots on the Collectorate complex here on Monday, demanding drinking water.
The local residents and members of village ‘Magalir Mandram’ said the 300 odd people in the village in RS Mangalam union had been facing water problem for the past 12 years and never received water supplied under the Cauvery combined water supply scheme.
They had been managing with local groundwater sources all these years but the water turned saline after shrimp farms were established on both the sides of Kottakarai river in the village, they said. Pipelines were laid for supply of Cauvery water but no taps were provided, they said.
They were now forced to buy drinking water at ₹ 10 per pot and water for other uses at ₹ 7 per pot, they said and urged Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao to make alternative arrangements.
Acting on their joint petition, Mr Rao assured to restore water supply under the Cauvery combined water supply scheme in a month. Till then, every household would be supplied water through tankers, he said. The villagers gave up the protest and dispersed after the Collector assured a permanent solution to the water problem.
