Most residents of Howrah ignored mayor Gopal Mukherjee’s plea on Sunday and avoided drinking water from the Padmapukur treatment plant, where a body was found floating on Friday.

The mayor assured the residents that water from the Padmapukur plant was safe for drinking. “People should not panic. There has been no report of stomach ailment,” he asserted.

But the residents of Shibpur, Mandirtala, Andul Road Carry Road and other places were seen throughout the day standing in queues in front of tubewells, holding jerrycans and buckets.

The Howrah Municipal Corporation suspended supply for 14 hours after the body of an unidentified youth was found in the reservoir of the Padmapukur treatment plant on Friday evening.

The supply resumed after the water was pumped out and the reservoir was filled with fresh, chlorinated water.

Trinamul Congress supporters blocked Howrah bridge from 10.30am to 11am to protest the civic body’s “failure” to supply safe water.

“I feel like throwing up every time the sight of a body floating in a reservoir flashes across my mind. Let alone drinking, I am not even using water supplied by the civic body for bathing or washing clothes and utensils,” said Minakshi Sarkar, a resident of Andul Road.

The sale of bottled water has shot up across the town. Bhusan Singh, who runs a bottled water outlet on King’s Road, said: “On a usual day, I sell around 20 jars of 20 litre each. Yesterday, I sold 500 such jars. And today till 2pm, 380 jars were sold.”

The identity of the youth whose body was found could not be ascertained on Sunday

A police officer said: “No one has come forward to claim the body. It would help our probe if we could identify the youth.”