Chandrapal Singh, an MBA graduate, and his minor daughters appeal to PM Modi for drinking water

AGRA: Upping the ante against unavailability of drinking water in Hathras village, a family has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , seeking permission to “end their lives, as the government had failed to provide them basic facilities for their survival”.

The missive has been sent by Chandrapal Singh, an MBA graduate, who had earlier decided to auction himself along with several youths in the village on Republic Day to raise money for supply of household water connections. The protest, however, did not take place as it was cancelled by the local administration.

Besides the letter, Chandrapal, a resident of Nagla Maya in Hasayan block, has released a video in which he and his minor daughters appealed to PM Modi to address their complaint, or else at least give them permission to end their lives as they cannot drink excessive “salty” water anymore.

Chandrapal also said that it is unfortunate that even after 72 years of independence, they have to travel several kilometres for getting drinking water.

In a video clip, Chandrapal said, “It is better to die than to live every day in pain. We have been suffering from this problem for the past two years and no one has resolved this issue.”

He added that he has to walk at least 2-3 km every day to get drinking water for the house in the 45-degree Celsius heat. “No one can understand our plight. Government officials cannot even take a sip of water which we drink to survive. Our children, too, consume the same water,” he said.

Claiming that over three lakh people in 150 villages in Hathras are affected by the problem, he said that they have written about their plight to everybody, from the district magistrate to the President of India, but the issue has not been resolved yet.

When contacted, senior divisional magistrate Sikandra Rao, Ramji Misra, said that the issue will be resolved soon, and assured to take up this matter on priority. “Many projects could not be taken up due to model code of conduct in the recent elections,” he said.

