Having spent 15 days without water in Pudukottai, K. Benasir Begum and her husband, who have to look after four children, finds herself without unemployment and have been forced to hit the street in protest.
The protest of Adappan Wayal people in Palpannai area on Saturday is one of the many protests launched in the past two months demanding proper water supply within the Pudukottai Municipality limits.
Pudukkottai Municipality, with 2 lakh residents, requires 25 million litres of water daily. Cauvery remains main source of water for the town. Water is drawn from the river at Jeeyapuram in Tiruchi district.
The dwindling water table and extreme dry condition has hit the residents hard. As against the installed capacity of 25 MLD, the officials said the yield had come down to just 8 MLD of water. Therefore, the municipality supplies water once in 10 days on a rotation basis in all the 42 wards, said a senior official.
Meanwhile, the municipality has arranged five water tanker lorries each with 12,000 litres capacity. A councillor, who did not wish to be named, said: “Among the five water lorries, two will be used to supply water to major government offices in the town and three will be used to supply water to the public. This is not adequate to solve the ongoing water crisis. The public has no option other than relying on private water suppliers.”
Ms. Begum said: “We need six pots of water for daily use. In private, one pot costs ₹10 to ₹13 and I have to spend at least ₹60 on water every day. The municipality supplies water once in 15 days and that lasts only four days. After that we depend only on private water suppliers. We are a poor family and spending so much on water is a drain on our monthly budget.”
S. Niyaz Ahmed, district president of Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi, has started a movement against paying water tax citing the ongoing crisis. “The Municipality collects water tax only to provide water. If it cannot provide water, why should we pay the tax?.”
Social activist S. Viswanathan said: “The municipality knew it will face such shortage during this time of the year yet the officials were unprepared. The municipality may be involved with many projects but they should prioritise water as it terribly disturbs everyday life of people.”
Pudukottai Municipal Commissioner C.N. Shyamala said a delay in water supply was because of the ongoing project from Tiruchi to Pudukottai which would take two months to complete. “Though we try to give borewell water through lorries, people are not taking it as they are used to Cauvery water. However, people living in the slums are making use of it. We are trying to sort out the issue at the earliest.”
