Amidst water shortage,a recent municipality circular advising the general public to use water from ‘Vallathirakottai’ until normal water supply through pipes has drawn mixed reactions from the public and political outfits.
The circular issued by the municipality a few days ago to the general public said, “Due to ongoing works in Jeeyapuram to Pudukottai town area, residents are advised to make use of water coming through lorries from Vallathirakottai area.”
Interpreting this as a direct advice by the municipality to opt water from the private water tanks, members of Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi have announced a protest on Monday.
S. Niyaz Ahmed, district president of TVK, said, “This advice is a joke as a large section of municipality residents is buying water from private tankers in Vallathirakottai. How can a municipality deny its responsibility by asking the public to get water from private persons?”
Sources from the municipality said that Pudukottai town required 25 MLD (millions of litre per day). However, the municipality was receiving only up to 10 MLD of water now.
“Last week, using our three tanker lorries we were supplying water to the public. We have rented more lorries now. Seven lorries are ready and five of them have 12,000 litres of water capacity. They will come into operation in three days,” a source said.
A municipal councillor said, “Only after the crisis started, the municipality has increased water tankers. Even they cannot quench the thirst of 2 lakh residents living in the municipality. It is the private water suppliers who are benefitting due to this lethargy. The circular can only be interpreted as a common reference to those private water suppliers who are actively supplying in the municipality area charging ₹ 10 to ₹ 13 per pot.”
Pudukottai Municipal Commissioner C.N. Shyamala told The Hindu, “In the circular, we only meant water coming from Vallathirakottai that is supplied by us free of cost. We are battling with our limited resources and expect the crisis to get resolved soon.”
