Facing acute shortage of water for more than four months, over 100 residents of Matkuria in Ward 32 staged a protest near the water tower of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation in the locality on Sunday and threatened to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Holding buckets and posters, the protesters shouted slogans against municipal commissioner Chandramohan Kashyap and councillor Rakesh Ram. They later took out a march that ended at the Bank More office of the corporation.

“We are facing irregular water supply for over four months. The problem aggravated last week when supply stopped completely,” Sashi Mahto, a resident of Matkuria, said.

He said residents were now having to spend hours fetching water from far-off places.

“The municipal corporation never gives any relief in terms of taxes. It charges compound interest if we do not pay tax for even a month. However, when it comes to providing a basic facility like safe drinking water for around 1,000 of residents, the civic body can’t even do that properly,” Mahto said.

Supriya Khatri, a resident of Ghurni Joria, said she couldn’t understand why a minor issue of malfunctioning valve couldn’t be sorted out in the course of so many months.

“Nobody is going to cast their votes in Matkuria as our basic problem has not been addressed despite repeated assurances,” Khatri said.

Councillor Rakesh Ram attributed the problem to a leak in the water pipeline. He said the leak had been plugged and supply was likely to be restored by Sunday evening.

On irregular supply, Ram said, “Due to the allotment of new connections, the load on the 1.5 lakh gallons tank has increased to 4.5 lakh gallons. A new tank will be built it as soon as the administration approves the site,” Ram said.