Councillor climbs communication tower to protest water woes

A councillor of Yavatmal Municipal Council climbed a communication tower installed in the district Collector's office to draw the authorities' attention towards the problems being faced by the residents of his ward.
Aman Nirban, who represents ward no. 6, had yesterday climbed the communication tower at the Collectorate office, after several attempts made by him to apprise the district administration of drinking water problem among others, which the residents of his ward are facing.
Nirban sat in the way of the tower for over two hours and did not heed to requests of Resident Deputy Collector (RDS) Rajesh Khawale, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran Executive Engineer Dinesh Borkar and others to come down.

The corporator did not budge even when district Collector Sachindra Pratap Singh personally came to the tower and requested him to resolve the problem amicably.
When Zila Parishad vice president Balasaheb Mangulkar reached the Collectorate and gave an assurance to Nirban that his concerns will be addressed, he agreed to climb down.
The corporator lost consciousness upon coming down, following which he was admitted to GMC hospital and discharged after a while.

According to Nirban, Yavatmal MLA Madan Yerawar tried to pacify him. District guardian minister Sanjay Rathod, who was in Collectorate for a meeting, could not find time to hear him out, he said.

The councillor said the residents of his ward were facing problems like irregular supply of drinking water, contaminated water being supplied, besides undeclared load shedding, and umpteen complaints and protests made in this regard were not heard.
"The city is facing acute drinking water problem for two months and Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran does not take the matter seriously," Nirban alleged.
"Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran supplies water at an interval of eight days from Nilona dam to the residents, but there are many areas where it does not reach," he said, adding the agency should adhere to the schedule in totality so that people are able to store water for the eight day-long gap.

Collector Sachindra Pratap Singh said, "We will look into the matter. We will make sure that such incidents don't happen again."
The incident caused fracas in the Collectorate premises for quite some time.