About 200 villagers from two communes in Siem Reap town gathered in front of the provincial hall yesterday to demand the government make public who authorised the filling-in of a water source in the community.

The villagers, from Svay Dangkum and Sambuor communes, claim that a dam reservoir that has been used by the locals since 1979 was recently covered in earth and is now useless.

Sou Sipheap, 33, said the reservoir had been filled in by workers representing a company that had yet to be identified, while the local authorities had done nothing to stop the work.

“Someone … filled in the land around the dam. We asked the local authorities who was responsible but they did not know,” Sipheap said.

Krub Vet, another villager, said that the dam had been in use since 1979 and was the main source of water for the villages.

“We can use the water for farming in the dry season. But now it has been filled in, and we are worried about our future.”