Berhampur: The drinking water problem in Berhampur city is worsening day by day and the public health engineering department (PHED) is not taking any concrete steps to resolve it, residents have alleged.
The drinking water supply is said to have stagnated in many parts of the city for the past five days and the problem has not been resolved even after restoration of supply Wednesday, as the water that came out of taps was impure, slurry and unhygienic.
This has sparked resentment among the local people and the PHED authorities are being rapped. Berhampur city-dwellers are planning to stage agitations against the PHED authorities for their negligence and inertia.
Worthy to note, the Rushikulya integrated drinking water project was started in 1984. The then chairperson of Berhampur Municipality Brundaban Nayak had availed a loan of Rs 412 lakh from the LIC and launched the project.
Drinking water was being supplied to Berhampur city, Bhanja Vihar, Gopalpur Port and Military Cantonment from Badamadhapur. However, the service pipes have not been changed since then and in some places the pipes were also damaged leading to enormous leakage of water.
Of late, the service pipes are being replaced under the Amrit Yojana and pipelines from Kaliabali up to Berhampur city have been changed so far, at a cost of about Rs 20 crore. However, water is being supplied in phases to different areas.
The replacement of pipelines had started from July 20 and water supply was stopped to the Berhampur city area. Some other areas were reportedly not having water supply, prior to this. This had sparked strong resentment among the people at that time and they let out their anger through agitations and road blockades.
However, after the PHED had completed the pipeline replacement work hurriedly, water supply was restored from late night Tuesday. Wednesday morning, people were shocked to see dirty water instead of potable one. Many people have also complained of foul smell. The water is said to be unusable even for bathing, utensil cleaning and other household purposes.
On the other hand, residents of Gajapati Nagar, Ankuli, Lanjipalli areas were seen collecting drinking water from the nearby railway station, PHED office premises and hospitals.
The PHED authorities have admitted supplying undrinkable water in the past couple of days. The in-charge of Berhampur division Bighneswar Panda said, “Water supplied in the past few days was slurry as the pipelines have been replaced just recently.”
However, the PHED authorities will bleach it after water reaches Kaliabali coming from Madhapur and pure drinking water will be supplied soon, he added.
PNN
