Vehicles stuck in the snarl on Vidyasagar Setu because of the blockade. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Discontent brewing since May over water scarcity at the Howrah end of Vidyasagar Setu boiled over on Thursday after the local councillor ruled out immediate relief.

“We do not get any piped water now. Earlier, we used to get water for an hour each in the morning and evening. The dry run continued throughout Ramazan. Even on Id, we did not get water,” said electrician Md Islam, 35, a resident of Natun Basti.

“When we visited the local councillor (Aditi Dasgupta of ward 40), she told us that she had spent all the ward development money and could not do anything about the water crisis now,” he added.

Soon after, residents of Natun Basti, Tarafdarpara, Kajipara and Munshi Sheikh Taibulla Lane started the two-hour blockade of the Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza.

Dasgupta told Metro: “There are technical problems with water supply in the area. We are trying to fix it, but it will take some time.”

Residents had also written to Howrah mayor Mamata Jaiswal about the water crisis on May 24 but the situation did not improve.

“There is a problem with the pipeline on Sarat Chatterjee Road. I have asked engineers to fix the problem as soon as possible,” said Jaiswal on Thursday.

A cop beats up a suspected protester in Howrah on Thursday. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Mukhtara Khatoon, 40, whose husband Sheikh Aslam and brother-in-law Asif were arrested from their house in Natun Basti on Thursday, said when they had approached Dasgupta in May, she arranged for four water tankers to visit the area daily but “it worked for only seven days”.

“There is just one tube-well near my home but only muddy water comes out of it. We suffered the most during Id as many dishes had to be prepared and many of us had visitors,” said Afrien Sultana, a resident who studies in Class XII.

A source in the Howrah Municipal Corporation attributed the water scarcity at ward 40 to a glitch in the distribution system. The corporation had allegedly installed valves at wrong places, disrupting proper distribution of water.

“The water pressure has reduced considerably at various parts of the ward, including Char Mandir, Mollapara and Kajipara, while the pressure has increased in some other parts of the town,” said the source.

According to him, the corporation has seven pumps but they are hardly used. As a result, the water pressure is low at most parts of Howrah most of the time.

Shortage of manpower in the corporation aggravates the crisis.