If you were to go by what the municipality here claims, it provides piped water to homes daily or on alternate days depending on which part of the city you live in. But if that were so, people in Udayapatti wouldn’t have protested outside the Corporation office with empty pots a few weeks ago, demanding regular supply.
The residents say that for the last three months, taps in houses on Balavantha Amman Street and Sangiliboothathan Temple Street at Udayarpatti had been dry. So, they have to go to the main road to fetch water. “In spite of the Thamirabarani river near the area, we are struggling to get water,” they say. A woman resident of Arunagirinathar Street at Palayamkottai says taps in houses have not been providing drinking water for around two months. For potable water, they have to go to a public tap on the street. “We waste time standing around the tap to fetch water,” she says.
Senthur Nathan, who represents the Thiagaraja Nagar Public Welfare Association, says that drinking water is distributed only once in four days to the area, while it was distributed once in two days earlier.
For his part, Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation Engineer Jai Xavier points out that drinking water is distributed to around 4.75 lakh people at 102 litres per person per day. While 44 wards get it every day, 11 others get it on alternate days. So, there is no scarcity, he asserts.