It is alleged that the piped supply of drinking water to a Muslim-majority area of Kolkata, India, has been cut off for a long time. Samirul Islam, a Rajya Sabha member of the Trinamool Congress, has written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights seeking intervention.
A US-based Bangla news outlet reported this on Saturday, 10 October. On Friday Samirul Islam had published a copy of his letter to the high commissioner on the social media platform X.
He alleges that the supply of drinking water to Jyoti Nagar Colony in the Cossipore area of Kolkata was stopped after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in West Bengal. He claims the residents are victims of political and religious discrimination because the area is Muslim-majority.
About 5,000 people live in Jyoti Nagar Colony, known locally as Mollapara. Residents allege that the regular piped water supply has been stopped since 29 July, causing them hardship in cooking, collecting drinking water, bathing and meeting other daily needs.
Water is being supplied by tanker through local organisations and private initiative to deal with the shortage, but it is alleged that this is not enough to meet residents’ needs.
In his letter Samirul Islam said safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation are part of people’s basic rights. Depriving the residents of an area of adequate safe water for a long time is not only a failure of civic services; it also bears on people’s right to health, dignity and a normal life.
He alleges that the Muslim residents of Jyoti Nagar Colony are being given no political weight. Whether the water supply has been deliberately cut because of their religious identity could not be independently confirmed.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report