Water supply to tribal hamlet stopped in Maha; five booked

Drinking water supply to a tribal-dominated hamlet in Thane district was stopped allegedly bythe local village committee over non-payment of cess, leadingthe police to file an FIR under the SC/ST Act against fivepersons and order a probe, an official said on Wednesday.

The rural police registered the FIR against fivemembers of the village managing committee, four of them women,for allegedly stopping drinking water supply to Katkari, atribal-dominated hamlet in Bhiwandi taluka of the district inMaharashtra, on a complaint of its residents, police said.

Additional Superintendent of Police Smita Patil saidthe case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, was registered at thePadgha police station on Tuesday.

No one has been arrested so far and a probe into theincident has been ordered under Deputy Superintendent ofPolice (Ganeshpuri) Dileep Godbole, the police said.

Godbole said the village committee, which managesaffairs of local areas, had been collecting water cess of Rs100 per month from each family of Katkari for years.

Recently, the committee increased the water cess toRs 500 which was opposed by the residents of Katkari, whoexpressed their inability to pay the hiked charges, accordingto the FIR.

This promoted the village committee to disconnectwater supply to the hamlet late last week, the police said.

The residents of Katkari did not get water for twodays (February 7 and 8) after which they filed the complaintagainst village committee members, the police said.