More than 70 families have their water cut off in Fusagasugá

A raid by the Public Utilities Company of Fusagasugá (Emserfusa), with the support of the municipality's Government Secretariat, cut off the water service in the Monteverde neighborhood, claiming that in the area they are illegally collecting water leaving more than 70 families without the service.

But this story doesn't start with the water shutdown. It has its genesis ten years ago, when construction licenses and public services were suspended due to an alert of the risk of landslide in the area, as Edgar Muñoz, a member of the Community Action Board, told Caracol Radio.

Faced with this, and since last year, according to Muñoz, “some landmarks have been placed to determine if there was mass movement; the latest ruling assured that it has not moved a centimeter, but they continue to deny service. Now, the Second Municipal Court of Girardot ordered the municipality to carry out mitigation works in the area and they have not complied.”

He also warned that for years they have made both oral and written requests to Emserfusa to ask for the feasibility of water and electricity services. Once the community saw these channels exhausted, according to Muñoz, three meetings were also held in the neighborhood with councillors, two meetings in the mayor's office, two meetings with the managers of the public service provider, two meetings on the council grounds and one guardianship with no apparent results.

That is why the community asks the mayor's office to avail itself of the documents issued by the Office of Planning of the previous administration, as well as Risk Management, in which it gives these families the green light to apply for a license and the water meters, since their homes are not in the risk zone.

“We have deeds, the lots are legalized, we want the accountants to pay what we need,” said Carlos Pérez, one of those affected in the Monteverde neighborhood, north of Fusagasugá.

Now, with the shutdown of water and electricity services, several of these families are overwhelmed by uncertainty because they do not know what to do now, because the authorities did not give them a promise of a solution.

For his part, Jorge Sáenz, another of those affected, explained that he has already tried to find a solution with the municipal authorities: “I spoke to the curatorship and they told me that if the mayor didn't issue a decree they couldn't give us anything, then taxes are paid, but we don't have the right. The Personería washes her hands and tells me that it is with the Government Secretariat, there they send me to the police and there they send me back to the curatorship”.

Saenz also explained that he has two young daughters and that his job does not allow him to pay for a tank car to solve this problem.

It is important to emphasize that according to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, water is an essential right and that “under no circumstances can a person be deprived of it, so companies must guarantee a vital minimum of daily water”.

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