Water protest turns emotional in Khandwa: SDM warns of jail, women say ‘Fine, just give us water’

Khandwa (Khandwa News): The people of Khandwa city are facing a serious water crisis because the main pipeline of the Narmada water project keeps bursting again and again. Upset over not getting water, residents blocked the Dhedtalai highway on Sunday. Women came out on the road demanding water. Within no time, traffic on both sides of the road came to a halt. The women who blocked the road said they haven’t received water for the past 15 days. “Now that the Narmada pipeline has been fixed, we’re being told that today our area doesn’t have a scheduled supply,” they said. Tankers bring dirty water – not even usable for washing clothes Water tankers are being sent, but the water is so dirty that it can’t even be used for washing clothes, let alone drinking. As soon as the police got information about the highway being blocked, Kotwali TI Ashok Chauhan reached the spot. He tried to convince the crowd to clear the road, but they didn’t budge. The women insisted that municipal officials should come and talk to them right there. After a while, Municipal Deputy Commissioner Sachin Sitole and SDM Bajrang Bahadur arrived. The SDM warned the crowd that they could be sent to jail if they didn’t clear the road. This made the people even more angry, and they strongly confronted the officials.

Women said – take us to jail, at least we’ll get water there The women angrily replied, “Take us to jail, at least we’ll get water there.” For nearly an hour, the officials kept trying to convince the crowd. Finally, after Deputy Commissioner Sitole promised that Narmada water supply would resume soon, the roadblock was removed. For context, the main pipeline of the Narmada water project has burst four times in just nine days. Because of this, the entire city’s water supply system has been thrown into chaos.