COSSIPORE, KOLKATA — Yasmin, 17, carries her family's clothes to the Hooghly to wash before coaching class. She has done this since July 29. The river is 100 metres from her house in Jyotinagar Colony — known locally as Molla Para — but its water leaves rashes on children.
This is not a remote hamlet. This is Ward 6, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, under Kashipur-Belgachia Assembly, 30 minutes from Esplanade. Population: ∼5,000, around 95% Muslims, daily wagers, masons, rickshaw pullers, factory workers. Five public taps that earlier ran from 5 am to 11 pm have been dry for more than a month — now 95 days and counting.
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How did taps go dry? Residents say KMC did pipeline work July 26-28. On night of July 28, supply stopped. KMC says two taps had problem, line not severed, allegation unfounded. But a visit by 'The Federal' and ‘Alt News’ found the contrast stark: taps 100 metres outside the Muslim stretch run fully, five taps inside the 150-metre stretch — all dry. Electricity was also cut same week, restored after 10 days. They have also been forced to bathe outside in the open in a polluted river. A CPI(M) tanker comes every 2-3 days, Rs 700 private tankers unaffordable, many forced to buy from Hindu basti nearby. Some Hindus share buckets quietly, fearing their supply will be cut if seen.
The crisis has a second track: eviction.
The entire colony sits on 3,478 sqm claimed by Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata — Union Government-run Port Authority. Port's estate officer issued eviction order February 23 under Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. Residents say they learnt of it June 9, with no public notice under Section 4, no opportunity to show cause, only two names — Hafizul and Tarcina Bibi — mentioned as respondents though nine families petitioned. City Civil Court rejected relief August 18. On August 19, Calcutta High Court stayed coercive action till September 18, later extended, matter sub-judice. Port claims Rs 2 crore annual revenue loss, colony unsafe, overcrowded. Residents show death certificates, slum registration, 70-year residence.
Now water becomes leverage, residents allege.
Their MLA is BJP's Ritesh Tiwari, who won Kashipur-Belgachia in May 2026 by 1,651 votes against TMC's Atin Ghosh, in an election that has been critisised for voter disenfranchisement. After winning, in a viral video May 14, Tiwari said: “In 74 years of elections, I am the first candidate who did not get a single Muslim vote. Those who voted for me have a right over me. With Baba Bholenath as witness, I say I will not do a single thing for them in coming five years. I will not issue a single certificate.”
He later added: “Modi ji said Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, but now Sabka Hisaab — accounts will be settled. Not by slapping, but democratic.”
When contacted, Tiwari told 'The Federal' water is KMC's job, land dispute in court, no evidence he ordered cut. Tiwari also said, he stood by remarks, saying limited resources will go to his voters first.
Residents like Salima Bibi, 45, who says she voted 11 times from here: “They say we didn't give Muslim votes, so no work for Muslims.”
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KMC, under administrator after Mayor Firhad Hakim resigned in June, has not restored supply. APCR wrote to KMC Commissioner Smita Pandey September 3. TMC Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam filed PIL September 26 and wrote to UN OHCHR, calling it humanitarian issue.
Indian law is clear: Supreme Court in 2021 held water is part of Article 21 Right to Life. You cannot cut it as eviction shortcut. Denying water is denying life. Is this not the genesis of yet another genocide?
But in Jyotinagar, taps 150 metres apart tell a different story: outside, water; inside, dry. If it was just pipeline repair, why 90 days? And why only Molla Para?
The High Court will hear eviction. But right to water cannot wait for title deed.
*Tags:* #Kolkata #Jyotinagar #WaterCrisis #Cossipore #SyamaPrasadMookerjeePort #RiteshTiwari #Eviction #Article21 #KashipurBelgachia #MuslimColony