Bhubaneswar: Even as the summer has just started, water crisis gripped a slum in Bhubaneswar leading its residents to stage road blockade on Monday.
The residents of Bisheswar slum in the city, mostly women, came out to the streets to stage a protest against the indifference of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) towards the acute water crisis faced by them.
Holding empty buckets, pots and other utensils, they sat on a dharna on Acharya Vihar-Sainik School road in the afternoon. They raised slogans against the BMC for the continuing water crisis in their area.
They said the pipe water supply to the slum was erratic for the last one week. After they drew the attention of the BMC, the civic authorities sent water tankers for some days.
“The water supplied through tankers was not adequate for all residents of the slum. While those were not coming regularly, the residents had to fight among themselves for getting water from the tankers. As a result, an unpleasant situation had cropped up in the area,” said the agitating slum-dwellers.
With the summer likely to continue for two more months, they demanded a permanent solution to the water crisis so that they can get respite during scorching heat.
After their road blockade continued for nearly 2 hours and disrupted the movement of vehicles, the BMC sent additional water tankers to the slum. The slum-dwellers withdrew the road blockade but threatened to intensify the agitation if permanent steps to resolve the water crisis were not taken soon.