NAGPUR: Over 100 villagers from a non-descript village of Sawangi Magrapur in Chandur Railway municipal council of Amravati district are protesting stoppage of water supply to them.
The villagers alleged that the Gram Panchayat (GP) members have deliberately not laid new water pipeline in ward no. 1 as majority of the population there is from the backward community. The old pipeline is rusted and has many leakages. Earlier, there used to be water once a week, but the supply has been totally stopped for the last one month, they said.
The aggrieved villagers, who started their protests from Wednesday evening in front of a big well on the outskirts of the village, braved winds and chilly weather throughout the night along with their families, including women and children.
The incident has has set alarm bells ringing ahead of the summer season when usually water scarcity is at its peak.
According to villagers, they have been facing water shortage since the pre-independence era, but it became severe in the last 20 years or so due to the rise in population. “Despite repeated demands, neither the GP members nor the elected representatives paid any heed to their grievances. Only during elections, the netas were seen in these backward areas,” they said.
The villagers also accused deputy sarpanch Jorawar Pathan and his team for deliberately not making efforts to supply water to their areas “due to enmity with the backward community”. “We are fighting to have new pipelines to our homes for the last many years. There is no water to our area for the last one month, as supply was cut at the behest of deputy sarpanch and his team. Water scarcity is our biggest problem,” Sudhakar Uikey, a villager said.
According to Manohar Gedam, who is leading the agitation, they had submitted representations to the tehsildar and others regarding this injustice being meted out to them by the deputy sarpanch. “Only our ward is not getting water. Our protest will continue until the police take action under the Atrocities Act against those who blocked our supply. We also want GP’s dissolution and appointment of an administrator to ensure justice to us. Just because we hail from the poor background and backward community, such treatment is meted out to us,” he said.
Refuting all allegations, Pathan told TOI that the villagers were protesting for no reason and were playing politics. “There are old pipelines in the area which often get choked and, therefore, the water supply was errant. A proposal for laying new pipelines has been approved and Rs24 lakh is sanctioned for it. The women there had damaged the pipelines,” he said.
