CPI(M) stages protest in Nagapattinam over water supply issues
The protest was led by CPI(M) town secretary K. Venkadesan, who said hundreds of residents across multiple municipal wards, including 27, 32, and 33, were affected by poor supply and quality of drinking water. In some areas, residents claimed that sewage water was getting mixed with drinking water or that water received through municipal taps carried a foul odour.
'In Velipalayam, for instance, many households receive water only once in four days. This is unacceptable, especially in a town with ongoing infrastructure projects,' Mr. Venkadesan said.
Following talks with municipal officials, the protesters temporarily withdrew their agitation after officials assured prompt action.
Official sources said some of the water supply disruptions were due to pipeline damage during ongoing Jal Jeevan Mission works. 'Water will be supplied through tankers to the affected areas in the interim. The Jal Jeevan works are expected to be completed within two months, by which time supply issues will be resolved,' an official said.
EOM/
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
WB CPI(M) demands judicial inquiry in tendering process of Deocha Pachami coal project
Alleging breach of tender guidelines and violations of the allotment agreement concerning the Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harisingha (DPDH) coal mining project, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary Mohammad Salim on Thursday (July 3, 2025) sought a judicial inquiry in the matter. The CPI(M) leader claimed that the coal mining project was a 'big scam' and demanded that the implementation of the project be halted till the allegations are probed. Mr. Salim said that in March 2024, a private company called Trancemarine and Confreight Logistics Private Limited was selected as the mine developer and operator (MDO) for basalt mining through West Bengal Power Development Corporation's (WBPDCL's) tendering process but later the company was acquired by a 'giant corporation called Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd' in April 2025. 'An acquisition or ownership change of the selected company violates WBPDCL's tender conditions and hints at deep corruption in the DPDH project… Basalt mining alone will lead to profits of ₹5000 crores. Trancemarine, and now its new owners, Himadri, will also be entitled to a big chunk of that profit,' the CPI(M) leader told journalists. The CPI(M) State secretary alleged that leaders of the ruling dispensation are also set to profit off the purported acquisition due to their alleged links to 'Himadri Speciality Chemical'. 'The government is in cahoots with private players to line its own pockets,' he said. Alleging lack of transparency or accountability in its operations of the mega coal mining project the CPI(M) leader the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre of being a 'silent enabler of Trinamool's corruption.' 'Firstly, why is a power development corporation issuing tenders for a basalt mining project? The WBPDCL was supposed to prepare and submit a geological report and a mining plan to the Union Ministry of Coal within 21 months of the allotment agreement. It has been 66 months since then. Till today, no such report or plan has been submitted,' Mr Salim alleged at a press conference in the party's headquarters at Kolkata's Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan. Mr. Salim accused the Trinamool government of 'deliberately miscategorising the project as a small 12-acre mine to bypass the need for environmental clearances and public hearings'. The DPDH coal mining project, located in Birbhum's Mohammad Bazar block and allocated to the WBPDCL, started operations in a 12-acre area after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement at the Bengal Global Business Summit on February 6 this year. Ms Banerjee had claimed earlier this year that DPDH is the largest coal block in India and the second-largest coal block in the world, with estimated reserves of about 1,240 million tonnes (MT) of coal and 675 MT of basalt. Meanwhile, WBPDCL authorities had earlier said that the project area spans a total of 3540 acres, and the basalt has to be extracted first from the top of the coal, which lies at a considerable depth of 300 metres to 1,000 metres. Notably, there were prolonged and continuing protests by local activists and residents against the DPDH coal project, over allegations of displacement of the indigenous people and 'violations of rights of the tribals to water, forest and land codified in the Forest Rights Act, 2006'. In April this year, in a hearing of a petition concerning the DPDH coal mining project, the Calcutta High Court had directed the West Bengal government and the WBPDCL to file affidavits.
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
INDIA bloc to explore legal options to challenge special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar
A day after their meeting with the Election Commission (EC) on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the Assembly election, the INDIA bloc is mulling exploring legal options to challenge the poll body's move. Opposition leaders have underlined that the EC has more or less confirmed that the revision could weed out 20% of the State's population, who migrate for work. The parties also strongly condemned Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's remarks made during the meeting, where he reportedly said, 'it is a new Election Commission'. Speaking to The Hindu, senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K. Jha said that the EC heard the INDIA bloc leaders but did not 'listen' and no answers were given on the questions they raised. 'He (Mr. Kumar) said, this is a new commission. Members may be new, but the Election Commission is a perennial institution and has to be seen in continuum. The CEC's attitude that reflects from his remarks is unsettling,' Mr. Jha said. He further added that the Election Commission's stance on the migrant population imperils voting rights of people from the Dalit, Backward and minority communities, as they are the ones who usually travel out of the State seeking work. 'I see this as an elite coup against the subalterns,' Mr. Jha said. The RJD leader also said that after Wednesday's meeting the Opposition has only two options ahead of them — take a legal recourse and mobilise public opinion. 'We will be doing both,' he said. General secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation Dipankar Bhattacharya said his party has already started public mobilisation on the question of 'defending voting rights and Constitution', which he described as the biggest agenda in the upcoming Bihar polls. Describing the mood of Wednesday's meeting, Mr. Bhattacharya said that the 'EC couldn't be least bothered' about the 'grave concerns' raised by the Opposition parties. Our concerns and worries regarding the SIR have increased after meeting with the ECI. - Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya addressed the Press after opposition parties' delegation's meeting with the Election Commission. — CPIML Liberation (@cpimlliberation) July 2, 2025 'As per our estimates, five crore voters in Bihar will have to prove their citizenship and the EC appears to be very complacent about it,' Mr. Bhattacharya said at a press conference. Both Mr. Jha and Mr. Bhattacharya said that before prescribing a list of documents that the EC is expecting the electorate to produce, it had not conducted any study to ascertain whether the documents would be readily available. 'The EC has exceeded its brief with this exercise. The EC's mandate is to deal with the Representation of People Act, but with this it has entered the tricky terrain of citizenship,' Mr. Bhattacharya said. He also criticised CEC Mr. Kumar's remarks. 'Commissioners may change, but the Election Commission doesn't,' Mr. Bhattacharya said. CPI(ML) leader N. Sai Balaji, who also attended the meeting, accused the CEC of not following the basic 'decorum' during the interaction with the Opposition. 'I will not go into the details of the exchange, many things were said,' he said. On the question of migrant workers, Mr. Balaji flagged the sequence of Mr. Kumar's remarks. 'During the conversation he said, election margins in Bihar polls are usually low, Mr. Kumar said, and, then, in the same breath, he went on to say that roughly 20% are migrant workers. He stopped at this without elaborating on the connection between the two statements. Senior Congress party leaders, including the head of the media and publicity wing Pawan Khera, Bihar Congress president Rajesh Kumar and the All India Congress Committee in-charge for Bihar Krishna Allavaru, said at a press conference that the role of the EC had come under strong suspicion. 'Clear conspiracy' Mr. Khera observed that the 'SIR' was a clear conspiracy to disenfranchise Bihar's voters and deny them their basic right to vote. He took strong exception to the way the CEC dealt with a delegation of eleven parties belonging to the INDIA bloc. 'If I quote the CEC, he said, 'this is the new normal'. He said it is new Election Commission. And what is the new normal? They will decide which leader they will meet and how many leaders can come to meet them,' Mr. Khera said. 'The CEC has himself said that the Commission expects around 20% of voters in Bihar to be disenfranchised,' Mr. Rajesh Kumar said.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Suvendu Adhikari urges grassroots push ahead of 2026 West Bengal polls
Kolkata: In run upto to 2026 assembly polls, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday emphasized on the need of booth-level strengthening and door-to door outreach, instead of overwhelming dependence on social media, and Hindu vote rekindling across the state. Adhikari said in 2021, 68% Hindus voted and BJP will have to increase it to 80%, in order to bridge the 4-5% gap to victory. Adhikari said that 50 lakhs members have been added since October 27. Among them, 50,000 were adult members. 'Yet we have not met the target,' he added. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years IC Markets Learn More Undo In a detailed description on how the booth level workers and youth , who directly work for the party, at the grassroot levels, were tortured and harassed, Adhikari said, 'After 2021 polls, one lakh BJP workers became homeless while 57 BJP activists became martyrs. It was due to the impact of post-poll violence which followed the 2021 assembly polls.' However, the organizational network was rebuilt after that in the last several months. 'BJP's primary membership drive was done with photos of the candidates and all electronic data,' Adhikari pointed out. Live Events Guiding the party workers about the state-wide outreach, Adhikari said, 'The party's work and activities should not be Kolkata-centric. It should spread from Digha to Darjeeling. Common people should be part of it. Local level workers and party activists should be more active. Hindu population should be part of the drive,' Suvendu Adhiakri said. Adhikari said that Malda, Murshidabad to Maheshtala, women's safety has been at stake. "Women's safety is at stake in Bengal and women and daughter's safety is at stake," Adhikari said. Adhikari gave a call to oust the Mamata Banerjee government and said in last elections 68% Hindus voted for BJP and it should be increased to 80 percent. 'We have formed governments in Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan and kept our promises in those states. We will keep such promises if voted to power in this state,' Adhikari said, adding that BJP had lost 12 seats due to cross voting by the CPI-M in 2024.
