Jamshedpur Residents Protest Delayed Rural Water Supply Scheme, Threaten Election Boycott

Villagers demand completion of the nine-year-delayed Bagbera Rural Water Supply Scheme, threatening an election boycott if ignored.

Frustrated by the delay, villagers protested the nine-year-old Bagbera Rural Water Supply Scheme, warning of an election boycott if their demands are not met.

JAMSHEDPUR – Frustrated by the nine-year delay of the Bagbera Rural Water Supply Scheme, thousands of affected villagers, under the banner of Gram Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, staged a one-day protest and threatened to boycott the upcoming assembly elections if the project is not expedited.

In 2015, the then-Chief Minister Raghubar Das laid the foundation for the Bagbera Rural Water Supply Scheme, with the goal of providing piped drinking water to homes within three years.

However, nine years later, the project remains incomplete.

The water table in Bagbera, Kitadih, and Ghaghidih areas has dropped significantly, forcing residents to travel several kilometers for drinking water.

The delay has left around 150,000 people struggling for potable water.

Former District Councilor Kishore Yadav led the protest at Bagbera Durga Puja Ground.

The villagers, under the Gram Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, declared that if the project is not completed before the assembly elections, they will boycott the vote.

Kishore Yadav blamed the state government, PHED, and the executing agency for the incomplete project.

He emphasized that people are suffering without drinking water while the concerned departments remain silent.

Yadav warned that if the project does not deliver water to homes before the elections, the residents will boycott the vote.