Lanjigarh: Notwithstanding the tall claims by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation(RWSS) Department regarding providing safe drinking water in rural pockets, many people in the remote areas as well as at the block headquarters town here in Kalahandi district continue to reel under acute water scarcity.
According to a report, outbreak of diarrhoea and several other water-borne diseases after consuming contaminated water is an annual affair in these regions.
The worst-hit villages include Manastara, Sargilepa, Barabuli, Karkmaska, Kankutu, Kandhabori, Shoshapadar, Kiram, Palberi and Tadijhola.
Most of the residents in these localities who belong to tribal communities don’t even have a tube-well. While there are a few in some villages, they don’t yield water during the summer season.
Women in Manastara collect stream water from a nearby forest for drinking purpose. As a result, residents there invariably suffer from diarrheoa and other water-borne diseases every year during the rainy season.
Though they have been raising the drinking water issue with the officials beginning from those in the panchayat level to the block headquarter, so far their pleas have fallen on deaf ears, alleged the tribals. The fate of people living in Sargilepa is no different.
The situation is not different in Biswanathpur, a locality close to the block headquarters. Though there is provision of an overhead tank here, the water supplied under piped-water supply scheme is like a drop in an ocean, alleged locals.
Even as the residents staged demonstrations at the collectorate with their empty water containers, the Collector’s promise to address the issue has not yielded any result so far.
Recently, the consumers had gheraoed RWSS assistant engineer Ajay Behera and Lanjigarh MLA Balabhadra Majhi over the issue. However, they managed to escape making hollow promises to placate the crowd, a report said.
When contacted, block development officer Basudev Nayak said he has just taken charge and would try to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
