With summer kicking in water scarcity, residents block key stretches in Jolarpet, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai demanding resumption of regular supply

Residents in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, and Jolarpet demand regular water supply as borewells dry up, causing hardships.

As parched lakes and ponds turned wells and borewells dry, residents, mostly women, blocked key stretches near Jolarpet, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai towns on Thursday demanding immediate resumption of water supply for household consumption.

Mallagunda village, comprises nine wards, that come under Natrampalli panchayat union, near Jolarpet town in Tirupattur. The village consists of 31 remote hamlets, with around 3,300 families. With temperatures soaring in the recent weeks, water supply to households, including street corner tanks, has not been provided by the local panchayat on a regular basis. Among 31 hamlets, Mallagunda hamlet has 248 families, dependent on water supplied by the panchayat.

Irregular supply of water has forced residents to trek atleast 5-10 km to fetch a few pots of water from Jolarpet and Tirupattur towns. “Panchayat supplies water for less than half an hour on alternative days without any fixed timing. Many families are unable to fill adequate pots of water during that time. We want the civic body to supply water every day at a fixed time,” said V. Renuka, a resident.

Panchayat officials said, on an average, 7.5 lakh litres of water is required for household consumption every day. Most of the water is sourced from 83 borewells that are maintained by the civic body. Around 26 over-head tanks (OHTs) are in operation to provide water through pipelines and streetcorner taps.

However, panchayat officials said extreme heat over the past few weeks has reduced water level in all borewells. Reduction in water levels has made it difficult for the civic body to provide water on a regular basis to households. As a result, the supply timing and frequency have been reduced from two hours daily to half an hour on alternative days.

Damage to pipelines, along a length of 300 metres, on Tiruvannamalai - Tindivanam High Road has blocked water supply to residents in Nallavan Palayam village falling under Tiruvannamalai panchayat union for more than a week. Most of the villages along the stretch depend on water supplied by TWAD Board from Sathanur dam, around 20 km away from the village.

Panchayat Union officials said that the existing stretch is being widened into a four lane. Water pipelines on the stretch were damaged by a private contractor undertaking the widening work on behalf of the State Highways. “We have been attending to issues of pipeline damage, at least for a length of eight km on the stretch, near the town,” said S. Arunachalam, Block Development Officer (BDO), Tiruvannamalai taluk.