IT hub at Chennai is facing tough times and is literally at halt condition due to
the strike by private water tankers. This strike which started on Monday is still on even today at it’s fourth day. Apparently, it’s now a struggle for much needed groundwater between farmers staying staying at boundaries of city and IT companies.
To deal with the huge water crisis on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) stretch, Nasscom, the apex trade association of IT sector, on Wednesday convened a meeting with administrative managers from 40 firms.
These IT firms along OMR generate about 100 crores of revenue everyday and this is water shortage is slowing forcing these firms to suspend their activities and thus, creating huge economic losses.
This situation has not come for the first time, once in 2013 also, this kind of strike had made IT industry stop their activities. The reason behind this strong move is being stated that five water tankers were seized by Kancheepuram revenue department officials, for drawing water from agricultural wells.
South Chennai Private Tanker Lorry Owners’ Association is demanding unrestricted access
to water from agricultural wells but sources reveal that revenue department officials have taken this step on receiving complaints from villagers and thus, it is a battle between villagers and IT firms for groundwater.
When contacted, N Njialingam, President of South Chennai Private Tanker Lorry Owners’ Association, said the strike will continue till the authorities agree to their demands.
“We want the tankers to be released, besides being granted the permission to extract water from agricultural fields. We have agreements with farmers for taking groundwater for which we also pay,” he said, adding that a meeting with authorities has been scheduled for late Wednesday evening.
With water shortage in state both parties are in dire need of this precious groundwater. With water reserves depleted, some residents in this area are planning to temporarily move out of their houses until the regular supply resumes. The IT industry feels if the water supply does not resume in a day or two then, this could normal disrupt operations.
Chennai Metro Water Board cannot met the needs of this newly developed area and hence,
residents here rely on private tankers. SVASTI owners and residents association (Thoraipakkam) secretary Riaz Ahmed informed that they had been without water since Monday.
“Groundwater on OMR is too salty for consumption. We will be pushed to explore it if the strike continues”, he further added. While Tanker association president N Nijalingam said, “We pay for the water we draw from farms” and further complained that officials treated them like criminals when they requested release of the impounded vehicles.
It is to be noted that this IT corridor is home to IT giants of India like TCS, Cognizant and
Infosys.
