PUDUCHERRY: Tension prevailed in front of Raj Nivas after former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, along former Government Whip RKR Anantharaman and Congress functionaries, sat on a dharna in front of Raj Nivas on Tuesday demanding safe drinking water for residents of Puducherry.
During the two-hour protest, Narayanasamy alleged that the supply of contaminated drinking water posed a grave threat to public health. He claimed hat 12 people from Orleanpet, Nellithope, and Uppalam constituencies had died due to water contamination in August. Now, nearly 30 more from Nellithope are currently hospitalised. The contamination, he charged, was caused by sewage mixing with drinking water through damaged pipelines laid close to sewerage lines.
Accusing the government of negligence, Narayanasamy said, “The government has failed to address the problem and it is recurring again and again putting the lives of people at risk. Neither Chief Minister N Rangasamy nor PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan has visited the patients or the affected areas. A government that fails to provide even safe drinking water has no moral right to remain in power,” he said.
He further pointed out that the water supplied in urban areas had dangerously high TDS levels — beyond 2600 — making it unfit for consumption, including in the PWD Minister’s own constituency of Raj Bhavan. He also accused the government of failing to tap central schemes under the Jal Shakti Ministry to improve water quality.
The dharna was called off after Lt Governor K Kailashnathan intervened and invited the Congress delegation for talks. At a meeting in Raj Nivas, senior PWD and municipal officials were summoned and instructed to ensure that sanitation and PWD workers do not damage pipelines during maintenance, leading to sewerage leakage into the drinking water network.
Addressing reporters later, Narayanasamy said the Congress would wait ten days to assess corrective measures.