Abundant water supply - only for bypoll

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The residents of Nellimoodu in Athiyannoor panchayat in Neyyatinkara constituency are enjoying an uninterrupted supply of water these days.   “This was not the case until a couple of weeks ago. We have been experiencing acute water shortage throughout the year. Conditions in nearby areas are not different either. Now all of a sudden we are getting enough water. This is just another election gimmick like the withdrawal of power cut,” said Sulochana of Nellimoodu.   Effective supply of drinking water is a major problem that remain unaddressed in several panchayats in the constituency. Pozhiyoor, a coastal village in Nayyatinkara, is a glaring example of the authorities’ apathy towards the basic necessity of the people.    Each house in the panchayat, which consists of more than one family, gets only two pots of drinking water daily. That too is available only for a short period in the morning. Surprisingly, the existing water connection is not the contribution of government, but that of the Latin Catholic Church at Paruthiyoor.   For bathing and cleaning purposes, the local people depend on the nearby lake, which is filthy due to the dumping of waste. “We don’t have clean water even to bathe our babies. Most children have skin diseases. The political parties never raise the drinking water problem faced by the people during the campaign,” said Forjohn, a fisherman at Pozhiyoor.   Water scarcity is the major concern for Sukumaran, a headload worker from Bhaskar Nagar Harijan colony. “Sometimes water supply gets disrupted continuously for 4 to 5 days. Also the quality of water is too low. There have been instances where we have to wake up several times in the middle of the night just to collect water,” he said.    Sasidharan, a resident of the colony, said that the water stored was unusable even if it was treated with bleaching powder. The people are yet to benefit from a water project that began at Injipulluvila almost 18 years ago. Thirupuram panchayat, Kanjiramkulam, Bhaskar Nagar, Nellimoodu in Athiyannoor panchayat and Pozhiyoor and Paruttiyoor are some of the places that face severe water crisis in the constituency.However, the election campaign has not touched the  water crisis as it may backfire on both fronts.