An All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) delegation visited Jyotinagar Colony on October 26 to meet residents of the Muslim-majority locality, where piped water supply has been cut off since July 29. The colony falls under Ward No. 6 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Its residents, many of whom work as daily-wage labourers and in other precarious occupations, depend on public taps for their water needs.
Residents said the denial of water was driven by religious discrimination. While the water supply to the Muslim-majority section has been cut off, the line continues to function normally in the Hindu-majority area along the same lane. Forced to depend on polluted Ganga water for their daily needs, residents are suffering from skin infections and itching. The prolonged water crisis has disrupted everyday life, endangered public health and affected children’s education.
They have repeatedly approached the municipal corporation and other authorities, submitted petitions and sought the intervention of elected representatives, but their demand for the immediate restoration of water supply remains unmet.
BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari of the area had openly declared after the Assembly elections that he would do no work for Muslims who had not voted for him, even vowing not to issue them a single certificate. When challenged by The Indian Express, he stood by his remarks. Now, as Muslim residents of Jyotinagar Colony have been deprived of piped water since July 29, the BJP’s politics of communal vengeance has taken a deeply sinister form.
Residents are united in their fight against this blatant violation of their rights. The AIPWA delegation expressed solidarity with their struggle and demanded the immediate restoration of piped water supply to Jyotinagar Colony.
