Water supply restored in Dhanbad after JMADA lifts protest

Dhanbad: The shortage of water in different parts of Dhanbad district since Thursday morning ended on Friday after 800 employees of Jharkhand Mineral Area Development Authority (JMADA), who stopped work in protest against non-payment of salary, returned to work.

Water was supplied from the city’s 35 water towers in the morning and by evening, areas in Jharia and Katras started getting water as the Jamadoba-based water treatment plant on the Damodar river started functioning.

The tiff between JMADA employees and the administration ended after a meeting was convened under the authority’s chairman, Dilip Kumar on Friday. At the meeting, Kumar assured to pay one month’s salary by the evening.

Speaking to the media after the meeting with employees, Kumar said, “The strike came to end after the talks during which we assured to immediately pay a month’s salary which is likely to be credited in their bank accounts by evening.”

Notably, a 10-year-old fund crunch has also led to non-payment of salaries for a month or two every year. This in turn has led to a total due of 42 months in the last 10 years. However, the recent protest was against non-payment of salary since March this year.

Kumar, during the talks, also assured to write to the state government to make more allotment to JMADA to ensure all employees get their pending salaries for at least five months.

Notably, JMADA the oldest civic body of the district, is entrusted with the task of supplying water to 10 lakh residents of Dhanbad and Katras. It is facing fund crunch due to gradual withdrawal of its sources of income like stamp duty, tonnage cess, town planning charges and others since early 1990s. Currently, water charges are JMADA’s main source of income besides the bazaar fee.