The Hindu 01.06.2010
Water scarcity dominates Council meeting
Special Correspondent
| Members decry tapping and sale of water by traders |
— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan 
Serious issue:P. Karthikeyan, Mayor and T.A. Mohammed Sadique, Deputy Mayor, at the meeting of the Vellore Corporation Council in Vellore on Monday.
VELLORE: The acute drinking water scarcity in Vellore dominated question hour at the monthly ordinary meeting of the Vellore Corporation Council presided over by P. Karthikeyan, Mayor of Vellore at the Corporation Council Hall here on Monday.
R. Arunachalam (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 30th ward councillor, said that the residents of his ward were getting water only once in 10 to 13 days, and that too only for about one hour. Each household does not get even 10 pots of water, he said.
The MDMK councillor wanted the Corporation to take stringent action against those who used motors illegally to draw water from the Corporation taps. The tail-end areas did not get any water because of the residents who illegally used electric motors to pump water, he said.
N.A. Balasundaram (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam), 11th ward councillor urged the Mayor and the officials of the Vellore Corporation to visit the various wards, see for themselves the difficulties faced by the people in view of the drinking water scarcity, hear their grievances and solve their problems.
P.P. Jayaprakash (Congress) said that two borewells in his ward had gone into disrepair. He wanted to know what steps the Corporation had taken to increase the capacity of the overhead tanks in the Corporation.
The Mayor said four additional borewells had been dug in the Otteri lake to the augment the drinking water supply to Vellore. Four more borewells would be dug in Otteri, he said.
G. Gopi alias Gopalakrishnan (MDMK) said that private traders in water were illegally pumping water from the Kagitha Pattarai area and selling water to the residents in different parts of Vellore. This has resulted in the drying up of nearly 7000 to 8000 borewells in the Kagitha Pattarai area. The government should take action to prevent the illegal pumping of water by private traders, he said.
The Mayor said that the Corporation would face a greater problem if the trade in water were to be curbed. It helped people who could afford to pay for the water to buy it if they faced scarcity, he said.
Mr. Gopi argued that it was the duty of the government and the Corporation to identify new sources and supply water to the residents free of cost, and not allow illegal trade in water.
Mr. Jayaprakash said that the Corporation could identify additional sources of water in the Palar river and overcome the water scarcity. Rani (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 33rd ward councillor said that the people of Kastha Mettu Street did not get water for the last nearly two months.
