Residents of Walled City argue with police over water on Tuesday

JAIPUR: Five people — four women and a man — protesting against water crisis before the Jaipur district collector’s office were arrested on Monday on the orders of the collector, who was allegedly irked by the agitation. This is the first such arrest in the city, which has been reeling under severe water scarcity and has been witnessing regular protests against the same.

A day after their arrest and subsequent bail, the women are still in shock and refused to comment on the issue when TOI tried to contact them on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Jaipur collector Jagroop Singh Yadav justified the move, saying the protesters were creating a ruckus although their memorandum had been accepted. “Some people had barged into my office, but I still accepted their memorandum. When they continued creating a ruckus instead of leaving and got into an altercation with the guard, I complained to police,” he said.

The women were part of a 45-member delegation from Pawanpuri (East) in the city’s Murlipura area that reached Yadav’s office to submit a memorandum against irregular supply and overcharging of drinking water by private suppliers in their locality. The guard outside allowed six people to enter, but some other protesters managed to get inside anyway. As the protest grew, the collector lost his cool and summoned cops to arrest the five.

“Pawanpuri is a colony approved by Jaipur Development Authority . Despite that, we aren’t getting drinking water through the public health engineering department pipelines and are forced to buy water from private suppliers,” said Govind Singh, who was arrested along with the women on Monday. “Earlier, the private suppliers were charging Rs 400 per tanker but now they are charging even up to Rs 1,000 per tanker. We went to the Jaipur collector to complain against it. But he called the police and put us behind bars,” Singh said, adding that they got bail later in the evening.

Pawanpuri is one of those areas that doesn’t have government pipelines, forcing residents to buy water from private suppliers throughout the year. “In some areas of the colony, pipelines have been laid by private suppliers and they charge Rs 500 per month but supply water for just 10-15 minutes, which is not sufficient,” said Khub Chand Meena, a resident.

The city witnessed fresh protests on Tuesday from residents of Neelgaron ka Mohalla, Benad Road, Machara and Murlipura who went to the PHED office in Gangauri Bazaar in demand of drinking water.

