A ₹33,000 electricity dues backlog shuts down drinking water supply across four villages, forcing residents to blockade NH-6 with empty pitchers in hand.
Clutching empty clay pitchers, over a hundred women from Lalpani village in South Hailakandi brought National Highway 6 to a grinding halt on Tuesday morning, demanding that the state restore their long-disrupted drinking water supply. The dramatic protest laid bare a glaring administrative failure — the Hailakandi Zilla Parishad’s refusal to clear a paltry ₹33,000 electricity bill had triggered a power disconnection, effectively shutting down the area’s sole water supply project.
The blockade began around 10 AM, when residents — men and women alike — planted themselves squarely on the national highway in front of the water supply project with pitchers in hand and slogans on their lips. Vehicular traffic on both sides of the highway ground to a halt, and the area descended into commotion. Katlicherra police, led by Officer-in-Charge Ampi Daolagupu, rushed to the spot and attempted to negotiate with the agitators, but the protesters refused to budge.
The standoff continued until Katlicherra Circle Officer Mrigakshi Das arrived at around 11:30 AM. She assured the protesters that the Zilla Parishad would settle the electricity dues by end of day, adding that she had already spoken with the Zilla Parishad CEO before coming to the site. She further guaranteed that pending electricity bills for other schemes — including those under Nishkar GP — would also be cleared in full. Reassured by her intervention, the protesters finally withdrew the blockade.
Notably, prior to Circle Officer Das’s arrival, Block Development Officer Nabajit Kalita had also visited the site in an attempt to defuse the situation, but failed to convince the crowd.
The frustration of the villagers had been building for more than six weeks. Residents and the project management committee confirmed that memorandums had been submitted repeatedly — to the District Administration, the office of the District Executive Engineer, and the Zilla Parishad — urging them to pay the outstanding electricity bills. None of those representations yielded any action.
Locals Sanjeev Kairi, Subir Bhattacharjee, Sajal Banerjee, and Samar Nath, speaking on behalf of the community, said that drinking water supply across four areas — Lalpani, Nishkar, Manipur, and Gramthan — had been entirely suspended for this reason alone. The irony was stark: even as the state government touts development across Assam, residents of South Hailakandi were left scrambling for basic drinking water because of an unpaid bill that a local government body had failed to address for over a month.