The ongoing drama in Haryana’s Chanot village of Hisar district over the villagers’ demand for water connection from the Bhakra line continues as the police used mild force to disperse the protesters when the officials tried to remove the T-joint fitted in the pipeline.
According to information, two days after Somesh Kumar, who is the former president of the sarpanch association, got the T-joint fitted in the pipeline to ensure water supply to the village, the Hansi administration termed it as an unauthorised connection and got a criminal case registered against unknown persons.
Notably, Somesh Kumar had claimed to be the representative of the state government and said that he had got the approval from the government for fitting the T-joint.
However, after registering a case for illegally taking connection from the pipeline, DC Rahul Narwal and SP Vinod Kumar led a team of officials with a JCB machine to the village to get the T joint removed around midnight on Monday.
The move triggered the protesters sitting on dharna who opposed administration and the police.
However, as the crowd of villages grew at the site, the police fired tear gas shells and resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse the gathering. During the melee, ASI Pritam Singh, posted at Bass police station, sustained a head injury and has been admitted to the Civil Hospital in Hansi. Additional police force was also called in to bring the situation under control.
Himanshu, a villager alleged that some women were also injured during the police action. Amid heavy protests, the administrative team uprooted the T-point and took it away.
Earlier, Public Health Engineering Department XEN Sanjeev Tyagi had maintained that the department had not granted permission for the installation of the T-joint and a 6-inch T-joint was illegally installed in the government pipeline.
Residents of Chanot village had started their protest on May 16, demanding water supply from the Bhakra pipeline which has been laid to fetch water for Hansi town.
