Police bear the brunt of ‘water riot’ (Indian Express 07 July 2010)

Seven police personnel, including the Station House Officer of New Ashok Nagar, were injured after residents of colonies in Kondli in East Delhi staged a violent protest against the water scarcity in their locality on Tuesday morning.
The protesters, mostly residents of Rajbir Colony and Gharoli, blocked the road connecting Kondli and Kalyanpuri at about 8.15 am. They soon started pelting the police as well as passing vehicles with stones.
“Initially, there were about 150 protesters, but once they became violent, others joined in, leading to a riot-like situation,” a senior cops said. Though additional forces were called in from nearby, the protesters refused to budge and kept throwing stones at the police. “After some of our men were injured, we had to resort to a lathi-charge,” a police officer said.
SHO Shah Noor Khan, Sub-Inspector Narender, Hawaldars Vijay Nath and Man Chand as well as constables Mahender and Ranbir were injured in the melee. Seven vehicles, including two police bikes and a Gypsy, were destroyed by the protesters.
However, the locals claimed they were protesting peacefully, and it was the police who started the violence. “We were sitting on a dharna demanding water as there has been no supply for around ten days. But the police started cane-charging us,” said Vinod Gautam, a local resident.
After the police picked up local residents for the protests, locals complained many of those detained were innocent. “They took away my sons saying they had assaulted policemen, but they were not at fault,” said one Krishna Devi. “They have detained innocent people instead of catching the culprits,” said Munni Khatoon.
However, Ranjit Singh, a resident of B-block, said the protests seemed politically motivated. “The water problem has been there for the past one-and-a-half years, but this protest has been arranged by politicians,” he said.
Additional Commissioner of Police (East) K C Dwivedi said 11 people have been arrested on charges of rioting and attempt to murder while four others were let off after questioning.
Dwivedi said no innocent people have been detained, adding that all those responsible will be behind bars soon.
DJB: borewell by tomorrow
A DJB spokesperson said Rajbir Colony is unauthorised but was still getting water from the underground reservoir at Kondli. Since the colony is at the tail end of the water distribution system, supply used to be supplemented through a borewell. However, the borewell went dry in June. A new borewell was dug and operationalised on July 1. But, despite flushing, the water was found to be muddy and consequently supply from it was stopped on July 3, leading to a shortage in area. The work of deepening the borewell will be over by July 8, said the spokesperson, adding that arrangements like water tankers have been made to supply water in the area till then.