People living in Khateek Pada, Mandi Sayeed Khan, Nala Budha, in the heart of the city observed the 19th Water Tragedy Day to protest governmental apathy in dispensing justice and solving the drinking water needs of the city.

 On May 21, 1993, 21 persons of these localities died after drinking water supplied by the State Water Works. Many fell ill. The then state government of Congress Party made several promises to the victims' families, but the promises, according to a leader of the area, Tejendra Rajora, have not yet been fulfilled.

 Subsequent investigations revealed that the high level of contamination was the chief cause. The then governor Moti Lal Vora had promised jobs and financial support to the victims’ family members.

 But even after so many years neither the supply has improved nor any help given to the victims.

 The Authorities say they are helpless as there is hardly any water left in the river Yamuna, which is the chief source of water for the Taj city.

 What the Agra Water Works is processing and recycling is the sewage, waste industrial effluents and sewer waste from upstream cities of Haryana and Delhi,” said an official. The river is dead, he added.

 Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society held a meeting at Goverdhan hotel to express discontent and anger against the state government for failing to resolve the crisis. “All the overhead tanks need urgent cleaning and repairs. To augment availability it was necessary to release more Ganga Jal through the canal suystem. Only additional release can flush out the pollutants in the river which were taking a heavy toll of aquatic life. The Yamuna water was pale yellow with high level of toxic wastes,” according to Bankey Lal Maheshwari who runs a network of water huts in the city called Sri Nathji Nishulk Jal Sewa. “Perhaps they are waiting for another tragedy,” wondered Surendra Sharma of Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society.

 Participants demanded immediate cleaning of the river bed and the seven tributaries in the Agra district. They also stressed the need for the urgent construction of a barrage on the river, downstream of the Taj Mahal.

 The water shortage in Mathura, Firozabad and Aligarh has been equally serious as municipal bodies have failed to draw up permanent solutions to develop the required infrastructure and storage facilities to keep pace with growing numbers.

Despite hundreds of crores invested in infrastructural development in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapeizium Zone, spread over 10,000 sq kms, the districts of Agra, Mathura and Firozabad continue to face acute shortage of power and water.

The whole of May has seen sporadic scenes of violence, citizen marches and dharnas in different parts of Agra city for regular supply of water and electricity. In Mathura, question marks have been raised on the utility of the Gokul Barrage which has failed to meet the city's water needs nor has helped in raising the water table in the district.

Protesting citizens of more than a dozen colonies, mohallas and basties have been on roads to demand better and safer water  for the people who even after years of focused battle against pollution continue to remain victims of highly contaminated supply by the century- old Agra Water Works.

On the water supply front there are a whole lot of contradictions in the state government's stand and the view of activists and citizens' groups. The Agra Water Works, the British established over a century ago, is under tremendous pressure to meet the water needs of a growing city. The general manager Jawahar Ram says "when there is no raw water in the river Yamuna, what can be done to ensure adequate water supply."

The Yamuna river bed is dry. The trickle of a stream that flows in one part is sewage, effluents and all the waste flowing from Delhi and upstream cities. This "liquid called water is recycled, chlorinated and bleached and pumped into the network of the city."

DK Joshi, an activist, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court ten years ago and secured orders for a thousand crore investment in water supply and drainage infrastructure for the city said "the plans that they have of bringing Ganga Jal to Agra at an exorbitant cost `1200 crores, as investment from the Japanese Bank, (JBIC) will go waste like earlier schemes. The corruption in the ranks of the government has resulted in such chaotic conditions and no one knows what is in store for this great Mughal city."

Joshi reeled out figures to show how crores of rupees had been squandered away without any meaningful or discernible results. He had therefore demanded a CBI inquiry to identify elements that had siphoned away tons of public money.

The BJP Lok Sabha member from Agra city Ram Shankar Katheria has said his first priority would be to solve the water problem in Agra, but how he doesn't know. "The problem is not only of quantity but also quality of water in the river. Unless they de-silt and dredge the river on a massive scale from Delhi to Agra the underground aquafiers would not be charged and the water table will not rise. The storage capacity of the river can be increased only when silt and deposits of dirt are scooped," said environmentalist Ravi Singh.