Acute drinking water shortage at Eruthempathy, Vadakarapathy, and Kozhinjampara grama panchayats is emerging as a major political issue that can upset the electoral fortunes of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) in the Chittur Assembly constituency.
The church-backed Right Bank Canal Vilipunarvu Kulu (RBC awareness committee), which forced 10,600 voters in Chittur taluk to opt NOTA (None of the Above) in the last Lok Sabha election in the Alathur constituency, has stared efforts to get more takers for its stand in the next Assembly election.
Two mass rallies and three awareness programmes supporting NOTA were held in the three panchayats post Lok Sabha election.
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‘‘If the government is not ready to implement its two-decade-old promise to extend the Right Bank Canal (RBC) of Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) to these border villages, we will not let its candidate win from the constituency next time. We have won more than 10,000 votes for NOTA in the last Lok Sabha election and there will be more such votes in the Assembly election if the demand is not met,’’ Antony Paul Raj of the committee told
Congress candidate K. Achuthan had won with a margin of 12,416 votes in the last Assembly election.
A traditional bastion of the Congress, the three panchayats have a peculiar social structure.
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Seventy per cent of the population is Tamil linguistic minority, of which 40 per cent are Tamil Latin Catholic Christians, 30 per cent Tamil Kongu Vellala Gounders, and the remaining Ezhavas.
‘‘Our wells are contaminated. We never tasted safe drinking water, while some other parts of the constituency have safe Parambikualm water because of the partiality of the ruling party,’’ said Muhammed Siddique, a trader at Kozhinjampara.
According to Mr. Paul Raj, the issue remains unsolved since the days when Kerala and Tamil Nadu signed the PAP agreement.