Salem: Vehicular traffic at Gugai area here was on Thursday disrupted for over 45 minutes after residents of Panchanthanki Yeri in Ward 45 staged a road roko, demanding that the Salem Municipal Corporation (SMC) authorities should solve the water crisis that they have been facing for more than a month now.
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"The SMC hasn't supplied potable water to us in the past four weeks. And we are struggling without water," said K Ramamoorthy, a resident. To collect water, he added, we have to now travel 2km from our village.
The protesters raised slogans against the SMC officials for not taking any step to address the water issue and warned of further agitation if the authorities didn't solve the issue at the earliest. "If the concerned officials do not take any action to solve the water crisis, we will strengthen the protest," the residents warned.
After the residents blocked the road, corporation officials and Salem city police reached the spot and pacified them. SMC officials assured the residents that the water would be supplied to them using tractors and trucks. Following this, the protesters dispersed.
Officials, meanwhile, distributed drinking water to Panchanthanki Yeri area on Thursday. They, however, said the water supply was disrupted for just three days that too because of Public Works Department (PWD) and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) officials were jointly carrying out maintenance work at a barrage near Mettur.
"We stopped the water distribution for the last three days as maintenance work was on," officials said and assured that the water crisis will be solved after the work was completed at the barrage.
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