Kolkata Muslim colony without water for 46 days as residents allege targeted cutoff: Alt News

Residents of a predominantly Muslim colony in Kolkata have gone without regular water supply for 46 days after five public taps serving around 5,000 people stopped working following pipeline work, according to a report by Alt News.

The taps in Chitpur Jyotinagar Colony in Cossipore, North Kolkata, have remained dry since July 29, although taps immediately outside the affected stretch continue to receive water, Alt News reported.

Residents alleged the disruption was deliberate and linked it to an attempt to evict them from the settlement, which stands on land belonging to the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata.

The colony, around 95% Muslim and largely home to lower-income families, relied on five public taps that previously supplied water between 5 am and 11 pm each day.

Residents told Alt News that Kolkata Municipal Corporation workers carried out pipeline work between July 26 and 28, digging at two points near opposite ends of the settlement. Water stopped flowing on the night of July 28 and had not returned as of the report.

Alt News said its reporters visited the area and found all five taps inside the colony dry. Taps immediately before and after the roughly 150-metre affected stretch, including one opposite a temple, were functioning.

Residents alleged the cutoff was intended to pressure them to leave.

“The plan was to cut off the basic needs of water and electricity so that we leave the area,” resident Alamgir told Alt News.

Another resident, Morjina Begum, said her family had lived there for generations and vowed to resist eviction.

The dispute comes amid a legal battle over the land. The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port issued an eviction order on February 23 under the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, describing colony residents as “unauthorised occupants and/or trespasser” on port property.

The Calcutta High Court on August 19 granted residents interim protection from eviction until September 18.

Residents also linked their concerns to remarks attributed to local BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari after the election, when he publicly pledged not to do any work for Muslims in his constituency.

Alt News said it attempted to contact local councillor Suman Singh regarding the water disruption but received no response by publication time.

There was no evidence cited in the Alt News report establishing that the water cutoff had been ordered on religious grounds. Residents, however, pointed to the continued supply to taps immediately outside the colony and the pending eviction dispute as grounds for their allegations.

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