Chennai: More than 4,000 residents from several neighbourhoods in Chromepet blocked the busy GST Road on Monday morning, complaining that they did not get proper drinking water supply for the past 10 days. They demanded immediate restoration of supply, disrupted apparently after a pipeline burst near Mannivakkam last week.Tambaram Corporation stopped the water supply after the pipeline was damaged, leaving several neighbourhoods dependent entirely on private water tankers. Around 50 residents from Chromepet and nearby areas gathered on GST Road seeking an explanation from officials and urging them to restore regular supply at the earliest. The protest briefly affected traffic movement in the area.Residents from Kothandam Street, Radha Nagar and Ganesh Nagar said interruptions in water supply have become frequent and occur almost every month. They said that officials often take several days to identify and fix the problem, leaving residents to struggle without basic water supply.When contacted, the Tambaram corporation commissioner, S Balachander, said the damaged pipeline near Mannivakkam has now been repaired. “After the pipeline burst, we regularly supplied water through lorries to all affected areas. We have also increased water supply by 3MLD from TWAD and piped water supply will be restored to the affected areas at the earliest,” he said.V Santhanam, a senior-activist and a resident of Chromepet said: “Every time the water supply gets disrupted, it takes more than a week for the corporation officials to find and fix the issue, people entirely are forced to depend on private water lorries who tend to increase the prices manifold in these circumstances, the corporation should be equipped with better alternatives to handle these problems.”According to Tambaram Corporation data, the civic body requires 1,091.31km of piped water infrastructure, but only 534.5km has been completed so far, mostly in Pallavaram and Chromepet zones.Govindarajan, president, United Residents’ Welfare Associations in Tambaram, said, “the corporation has to speed up the piped water infrastructure in other zones too, especially in interior areas like Thiruneermalai, Perungalathur, and West Tambaram, water is supplied only twice a week.”