MADURAI: Amid the reeling water scarcity across the district, residents from different villages have been showing up with empty pots and staging sit-in protests during the weekly grievances meeting at the collectorate.
On Monday, several council members from the Sikkal panchayat, including the vice president of the panchayat, arrived at the collectorate to submit their resignations to the collector over the unresolved water issues. Several others submitted petitions seeking to address the lack of potable water while a few farmers submitted a petition regarding the recently sanctioned drought relief.
While speaking, S Noorul Ameen, vice chairman of Sikkal Panchayat stated that over the past year, they have raised concerns over the drinking water woes at the council meeting multiple times. "Due to the shortage of Cauvery water supply, most areas in the panchayat have not received enough water for almost a year. Despite raising multiple complaints, no actions have been taken to resolve the issue or increase the water supply," he said, adding that they have been unable to respond well to the residents' grievances related to the water woes and that all the members of the Sikkal Panchayat Council, including himself, had submitted a petition with the collector in a bid to resign, during the previous grievance meeting. He further urged the district administration to take proper action to provide water to the area.
Later in the day, farmer leader MSK Bakkiyanathan submitted a petition to the collector. While appreciating the recent announcement of sanctioning drought relief for the farmers who lost their crops in the previous year's drought, he sought permission for the farmers to meet Chief Minister M K Stalin who is scheduled to visit the district later this week.
Bakkiyanathan also added that though drought relief has been sanctioned for the farmers, it still does not relieve them from their financial burdens. "As the next season is set to commence, considering the welfare of Ramnad farmers, the state government must take action towards waiving off the crop loans of farmers who were affected by the drought.
During the grievance meeting, around 213 petitions were submitted to District Collector Vishnu Chandran. Accepting the petitions, he assured to take action on it.