An advocate who had dragged Bally Municipality to court over the drinking water crisis in his area had to be content with the latter passing the buck to a neighbouring municipality.

On many occasions in the past, Bally Municipality had had to face residents? wrath because of severe water scarcity in areas under its jurisdiction. The civic body in court has pointed a finger at the neighbouring Serampore Municipality, claiming it was illegally tapping its water pipelines. Calcutta High Court has also found merit in the argument.

When roadblocks and other means of protest failed to bring any succour, an advocate, also a local resident, took it upon himself to sue Bally Municipality for its alleged ?chronic inability? to provide its people with drinking water. The municipality is supposed to cater to around 263,000 people in Bally and Belur.

When questioned by the court in this regard, the civic body shifted the entire onus on the Serampore Municipality. The court then ordered Serampore Municipality to assist the Bally civic body in plugging the tapping points.

?The Howrah Municipal Corporation allows us to draw water from its Serampore water treatment plant through 24-inch and 15-inch-diameter pipes against a monthly charge of Rs 3 lakh. These pipelines have been breached at least at 11 points, in areas under Serampore Municipality,? said Arunabha Lahiri, vice-chairman, Bally Municipality.

Alleging that Bally Municipality was blowing things out of proportion, Giridhari Saha, vice-chairman of Serampore Municipality, said: ?We have been doing this for a long time. We are authorised to do so. The authorisation papers are missing and we are trying to trace them.?

Howrah mayor Gopal Mukherjee, however, denied having any agreement with either of the municipalities. ?Neither has been permitted to use our water. We allow them to do so purely on humanitarian grounds.?