TBM Report ||
Over 3,500 residents of Jyoti Nagar Colony—locally known as ‘Molla Para’ or ‘Muslim Colony’—in North Kolkata’s Cossipore area have been deprived of municipal tap water since July 29. Falling under Ward 6 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the settlement’s 500 working-class families are currently forced to use polluted water from the nearby Hooghly River, triggering skin infections and fever among children and the elderly.
Residents allege that local BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari orchestrated the water disruption as political retaliation. In a post-election public speech, Tiwari allegedly declared he would refrain from carrying out development work for the area’s Muslim population because they did not vote for him. Locals also reported that TMC Ward Councilor Suman Singh left the area shortly after the election results, leaving the residents without civic governance.
Community members highlighted selective discrimination, pointing out that municipal standposts in neighboring Hindu-majority pockets along the same road continue to receive uninterrupted water supply. The crisis began on July 29 around 11:30 PM, following routine pipe repairs by KMC workers, after which all five public taps and streetlights in the Muslim colony were shut off. While street lighting was later restored, the water supply remains suspended.
The water shortage has disrupted daily public life in the settlement. Worshippers at the local mosque are unable to perform ablution (wudu) before prayers, while schoolchildren are missing exams due to the crisis. Additionally, multiple children and elderly individuals have suffered injuries from slipping along the muddy banks of the Hooghly River while attempting to bathe.
Currently, residents are buying packaged water or paying for municipal water tankers to meet basic needs. Despite living alongside low-income Hindu neighbors peacefully for decades, residents now fear that the artificial utility blackout is part of an effort to evict them. Local BJP leadership has not yet issued an official response to the allegations.
, the settlement’s 500 working-class families are currently forced to use polluted water from the nearby Hooghly River, triggering skin infections and fever among children and the elderly.){kind=link}