Members of the Cheranalloor grama panchayat, representing residents, staged a sit-in at the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) Chief Engineer’s office here on Wednesday demanding water supply to the region which is facing acute water shortage for the past 12 days.
Raju C.K., vice president of the panchayat, told The Hindu that they had held the sit-in till 8 p.m. All the 17 wards were without water supply all these days. After the day-long protest, some places in five wards in the Chittoor area got water.
“The KWA is providing full supply to the city while ignoring the panchayat, just bordering the city limits,” he added.
The panchayat gets water from two pump houses – Pachalam and Thammanam. The local body has permission to provide water in tankers.
But when 95% of people in the panchayat have pipe connections, KWA has to service the area, said Mr. Raju.
Another panchayat member said that water scarcity was severe in the Chittoor region where no wards had water.
According to Anil Kumar, Superintending Engineer, KWA, water supply had been increased slightly after regulating the supply in other areas, and it will be restored by Thursday. The Aluva plant shutdown on Saturday has added to the woes of residents.
The Aluva plant was shut down for repairing the leak on the main supply pipeline inside the plant.