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Ludhiana | Parched EWS Colony residents block Tajpur Road for 5 hours
Reeling under regular power cuts and water scarcity, EWS Colony residents blocked Tajpur Road in protest for around five hours
Reeling under regular power cuts and water scarcity, EWS Colony residents blocked Tajpur Road in protest for around five hours on Sunday.
Protesting against municipal corporation (MC) officials, MLA (Ludhiana East) Daljit Singh Grewal (Bhola), and Ward 17 councillor Jasmeet Kaur, the residents gathered on Tajpur Road at around 7am and beat their empty buckets. Traffic chaos ensued in the area, and vehicles had to be diverted causing snarls and bottlenecks.
On April 2, the residents had staged a protest outside the MC’s Zone B office to demand resumption of water supply in the colony, but to no avail. The protesters alleged that the authorities had failed to supply the requisite number of water tanks to the area, and they did not have enough water to drink or wash their hands.
A large number of women were seen participating in the protest. One of the agitators, Rani Devi, said, “Water supply to our colony has been erratic for over two months. However, matters came to a head when we were not supplied water for a fortnight.”
“Authorities say there has been a glitch in the tubewell, but they have not been able to resolve it for 15 days. Regular power cuts in the area in the scorching heat are also adding to our troubles, but so far no public representative has visited the area,”she added.
Another resident, Raj, said, “The AAP had promised to provide uninterrupted and free power supply, but we are not even getting basic facilities. MLA Bhola has not visited the area, despite repeated complaints.”
Bhola’s staff tried to pacify the protesters around noon saying that the defective tubewells were being replaced. MC executive engineer Ranbir Singh said the civic body had been making efforts to ensure water supply in the area.”On Sunday, water supply was hit due to power cuts. Directions were issued to the field staff to switch on tubewells as soon as power supply was restored.”
