Expressing their water woes, the people of Cheranelloor panchayat blocked the road in front of the main office of the Kerala Water Authority here and held a sit-in demanding a permanent solution to the scarcity of water in the area.Surrounding the Water Authority officials in the chief engineer's room, the people forum demanded that action be taken to resolve the issue as the area has not received water for the last one month.
K.K. Suresh Babu, president of the panchayat, said that though the region had not been getting enough water for more than a year, many areas had not received even a drop for about a month now.
The Samyukta Samara Samithi, a people's forum led by the panchayat president with support from the standing committee chairpersons of the panchayat C.K. Raju, Thresia Thomas and Paul Joseph, has been on warpath for the last five days picketing the KWA offices and calling a hartal in the region to make their woes known.
Hibi Eden, MLA, inaugurated the sit-in and Ludy Luiz, MLA, spoke on the occasion. They also led the talks with KWA officials. The chief engineer in-charge told The Hindu that Cheranelloor, being the tail end of the water supply network from the Thammanam pump house, has been facing shortage because of increased consumption by those above them in the network chain.
The pipeline, however, is being checked for blocks because of faulty valves or use of unauthorised air pumps. Officials will try to release water to Cheranelloor from areas that receive more water. As KWA officials complained that they were not able to get any work done in the area because of the public protest, the Samara Samithi leaders assured the officials that they would allow work to go on in the area.
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