Thiruvananthapuram: The residents of Jawahar Nagar Welfare Association are contemplating not to vote in the elections this month.
The Kerala Water Authority has not been supplying them drinking water for more than a year now.
Recently, KWA had increased its production by 100 lakh litres daily from Aruvikkara to address the shortage in the city. But that deterred no woes of the residents living in high terrains like Jawahar Nagar and adjoining areas like Jawahar Lane, Kavuvila Lane and Belhaven Gardens.
In the Facebook page of Jawahar Nagar Welfare Association, one of the residents, Chandrasekhar Pradeep Chand, said candidates need not come to them begging votes till they ensure drinking water.
He also asked other association members when was the last time they got uninterrupted water in full flow.
N.P. Unnikrishnan, a resident of C -1/1, lamented the authorities were doing nothing to address the woes of 270 households in the colony where there are scores of voters having a second thought on casting their franchise.
“The situation is pathetic here. I have not received a single drop of water for the last five months. More than my case, I am feeling so helpless seeing my colony members depending totally on tanker lorries. The authorities should come and see how Kurian Mathews who uses wheelchair and 88-year-old Saraswathy Amma struggling to get water and scores of other residents here,” said Unnikrishnan, a restaurateur. His anger is unstoppable. He rants that water scarcity is happening in the heart of the city and Jawahar Nagar is the first housing colony in the state known as a posh residential area in the capital city.
But the reality is that out of the 15 streets from A to O with four bylanes, only O Street is getting drinking water due to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) pipeline passing through the area.
N. Jayakumar, secretary, Jawahar Nagar Welfare Association, said he had already apprised local MLA K. Muraleedharan, of the Congress and BJP candidates, Dr Shashi Tharoor and Kummanam Rajas-ekharan, about the water crisis. “They are also helpless as the only solution before the KWA is to have a new pipeline laid. The existing pipeline dates back to 1964 and now with huge sumps belonging to the flats sucking in water leaving residents in dire straits,” he told this newspaper.
KWA had ensured that their labourers worked day and night for 15 days to increase the water production from the existing 86.74 MLD to a further 100 lakh litre.
Suresh Chandran, its superintending engineer, said high terrain areas like Jawahar Nagar and Belhaven Gardens are still facing severe water shortage.
“Once the summer showers are on, there would be slight respite as then the water consumption would come down. If every household in other region decides to save 300 litres of water every day then residents of Jawahar Nagar and Belhaven Gardens too would start getting water,” he told this newspaper.
With Lok Sabha elections just around the corner, the tendering process for laying a new pipeline has also come to a standstill. But the residents are determined to teach the politicians a lesson.
