Several hundred residents of Chittagong city’s Halishahar area under the banners of different social organisations yesterday besieged Chittagong Wasa office demanding regular supply of water in the area.
Residents of Halishahar’s A, B, I, J, New A, New-I and H blocks, Notun Bazar and Eidgaon area have been suffering from water crisis for the last couple of weeks as Wasa did not consistently supply water to these areas.
Demonstrations were carried out with placards, posters and pitchers, in front of the Wasa office from 11am to 12 noon.
During the demonstration, the residents also broke earthen pitchers and chanted slogans protesting the inconsistent supply of water.
The demonstrators also warned that they would be compelled to take tougher measures if the situation does not improve before Ramadan. The residents complained that around six lakh people in Halishahar area have been facing acute water crisis for the last 10 years.
“We cannot cook food and clean our houses, let alone take a shower because of the acute water crisis”, said Omar Faruk, an inhabitant of the area, adding that they have repeatedly informed the authorities concerned to fix the problem, but to no avail.
“Though we pay our bills regularly, we do not get a consistent supply of water. The crisis has become so severe that the tenants are leaving their houses”, said another resident Nabil Hossain.
Later, they submitted a memorandum to Managing Director Engineer AKM Fazlullah of Wasa.
Because of the demonstration, the CWASA authorities formed a 14-member committee comprising of its chief engineer, the local ward councilors and the residents of Halishahar area to address the problem.
AKM Fazlullah, however, assured locals of mitigating the crisis within a week. Having had his assurance, the protesters withdrew the programme.
“The Chittagong Wasa can meet only 42% of the total demand. To mitigate the persistent water crisis, we have undertaken a number of big projects. But, we could not implement them within the deadline because of last year’s political unrest” he said.