Blackmail seems to have paid off for Ratna Sur and Manju Kar, councillors of wards 122 and 115 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC).

Conceding a long-standing demand of the two councillors from Behala, municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya on Thursday sanctioned Rs 3.5 crore for a drinking water scheme in their areas.

“What the two councillors did was virtual blackmail. Small and vested interests should not hold up development work. From now on, we’ll think twice before starting a project in a specific area,” a peeved Bhattacharya said after the meeting on Thursday evening.

He said the CMC was planning another water project for the two wards, but “blackmail” by the councillors had forced him to immediately sanction the Rs 3.5 project.

Laying of pipelines for the Rs 14.57-crore Bansdroni water reservoir has been held up for months after resistance from residents of wards 115 and 122 in the Behala area. Councillors Sur and Kar led the agitation, arguing that though waterlines from Garden Reach would pass through their wards, they were being denied the benefit of water supply.

They maintained that they would not allow waterlines to pass through their area unless another drinking water project was sanctioned for them. The Bansdroni reservoir-cum-booster pumping station will benefit four to five lakh people in the three-km stretch between Kudghat and Garia.