PUDUCHERRY: Tension prevailed in front of Raj Nivas after former Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, along former Government Whip RKR Anantharaman and Congress functionaries, sat on a dharna in front of Raj Nivas on Tuesday demanding safe drinking water for residents of Puducherry.
During the two-hour protest, Narayanasamy alleged that the supply of contaminated drinking water posed a grave threat to public health. He claimed hat 12 people from Orleanpet, Nellithope, and Uppalam constituencies had died due to water contamination in August. Now, nearly 30 more from Nellithope are currently hospitalised. The contamination, he charged, was caused by sewage mixing with drinking water through damaged pipelines laid close to sewerage lines.
Accusing the government of negligence, Narayanasamy said, “The government has failed to address the problem and it is recurring again and again putting the lives of people at risk. Neither Chief Minister N Rangasamy nor PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan has visited the patients or the affected areas. A government that fails to provide even safe drinking water has no moral right to remain in power,” he said.
