COIMBATORE: After protests escalated on the second day, drinking water supply was resumed in Appanaickenpatti village panchayat here on Friday. On Thursday, the villagers had besieged the panchayat office, and on Friday night, they blocked the Sulur-Sultanpet road insisting on an immediate solution to the water distribution issue.
The residents accused the local body authorities of failing to supply drinking and borewell water to Appanaickenpatti village for more than 20 days. M Manikavasagam of Appanaickenpatti said "We highlighted the issue during the gram sabha meeting on May 1. Since they failed to address our concerns, we staged a protest outside the panchayat office on Thursday. We were forced to escalate our protest on Friday night as the supply issue continued."
Revenue officials from the Coimbatore district administration along with the police department spoke with the public to help settle the issue. In response to the protests, the village panchayat resumed water supply on Saturday.
B Sivakami, the Block Development Officer (village panchayats) of Sultanpet block, Appanaickenpatti, Kallimedu, Maruthi Nagar, and Appanaickenpatti Pudur, said the requirement is for 4,00,000 litres of drinking water daily. However, the entire panchayat receives 1,74,000 litres from the Pillur I water scheme, she added.
"Appanaickenpatti consists of 1,695 households covering a large area within the panchayat, and they have faced water scarcity for approximately 17 days. Each household requires 55 litres of water daily. Unfortunately, the drinking water supply was interrupted two weeks ago due to issues with the main pipeline at two locations — Sindhamanipudur and Kalappatti. We are working with the TWAD board to fix these problems. Following the protests, we expedited the work and were able to resume water supply on Saturday," she added.