Women block city road, protest water shortage

COIMBATORE: More than 50 women, residing at Gandhinagar in Mettuthottu, blocked Vellalore Road for more than 45 minutes on Thursday morning. Carrying large plastic water pots in different colors, they demanded the civic body to resolve their water crisis immediately. This is one of the first protests over water shortage to hit the city this summer.
The women were seen banging their pots and blocking the road since 9.45am."This protest is our last resort for adequate water," said Jothimani Dhandapani, a protesting housewife. "We have not received any water for one full month," she added.
The women said they have met with their counsellor Savithri Vijayan and corporation officials to resolve the water crisis. "But when ever we meet with them, they say they would look into the problem but nothing happens," said another protestor Chitra Natraj.
"One week ago, we got some water from our pump sets but it looked dirty and had a stench," she added. Many of the children had fallen ill after drinking the water. "After this incident, we approached the corporation for help but we have not got any response," she said.
The women said that the final straw was a rude reply by a corporation official to five ladies who went to the Ward 99 office yesterday. "We pay water tax of 65 a month, so we should get the service we are paying for," said Dhandapani. "People like us who live in slums can not afford to buy drinking water and pay tax," she added. "Our ward counsellor too does not seem to care about us," she said.
The Coimbatore Corporation was unavailable for comment. However, to diffuse the protest, the officials distributed a truck full of water to all homes in the area.