Thiruvananthapuram: A group of people led by Aruvikkara MLA K.S. Sabarinathan gheraoed the local tehsildar’s office on Tuesday in protest against the administration’s failure to manage the drought situation prevailing in Nedumangad. As per the promises made, the district administration had to install over 300 water kiosks in Nedumangad. However, only 15 were set up until Tuesday leading to an all-party protest.
The protests that started at 10 a.m. turned into gherao of tehsildar R.S. Baiju by 1 p.m. and ended by 3.30 p.m. after a delegation under the additional district magistrate arrived there. ADM John Samuel promised to install kiosks by February 15. Also tankers will be despatched to places facing severe drought, officials said. The MLA demanded water tankers apart from kiosks considering the serious drought situation in large areas of Aruvikkara and Nedumangaud.
“In some wards, citizens have to travel up to 5 km. There are adivasi settlements on the western ghats and people cannot be expected to travel so far for water. Apart from this, there will be law and order issues when so many people flock under the same kiosk,” said Mr Sabarinathan. Nedumangaud MLA C. Divakaran arrived at the office and left after promising action. “Drought mitigation meetings were convened by the chief minister in October. Almost four months have passed and nothing has happened on the ground. The wells and water bodies in Nedumangad have already dried up,” said Thiruvananthapuram district panchayat opposition leader Anad Jayan. The Congress workers had earlier boycotted taluk meetings after their protest yielded no results.
