Post News Network
Talcher, March 8: With summer yet to set in, residents in Gopalprasad
panchayat here in Angul district are reeling under acute water shortage and have to use contaminated water of
nullah and pond to meet their needs.
The village with a population of 1000 paints a sorry picture of administrative apathy as no one in the administration has ever cared to mitigate their problems despite several complaints.
A day has not passed when they do not have to step out to fetch water from the nearest pond and nullah.
The water shortage has turned out to be a perennial problem for them as they have to starve for water all around the year excepting in the rainy season. Having lost their lands for the coalmines, the villagers are now in a fix and clueless over their future.
The situation in the village has now turned worst with all the five tube wells becoming defunct and the drinking water project at neighbouring Banambar Sahi remaining non-functional for over nine months. This has happened due to heavy mud slide in the bore-well point of the drinking water project.
The village lying close to Hingula open cast coalmines has its own bane as a thick layer of coal particles always envelops the village. The coal particles floating in the air settle on the water in ponds and wells and forms thick and dark layer on it.
The villagers left without any alternative are forced to use the pond water on a daily basis. The villagers were relieved after the administration directed the mines authorities to supply drinking water through tankers from March 8. However, a day has passed and the villagers are yet to get any drinking water, alleged villagers Gokula Mohanty, Mitika Gadnaik, Khageshwar Mohanty and Batakrushna Mohanty. They
attributed the water shortage to depletion in ground water-level due to
underground coalmines, they said.
