Tikiri: The government executes the Swajaldhara Yojana to ensure safe drinking water for people in rural areas, but the scheme has been a far cry for some in remote pockets of Shankarada panchayat under Kashipur block of Rayagada.
According to reports, even 73 years after independence, 10 villages under this block were deprived of basic facilities like roads and safe drinking water.
Even in the monsoon, people are found drinking water from pits they have dug out on dry riverbeds. Patients are carried on cots in the absence of good roods. Ambulance fails to enter the villages during emergency times, locals alleged.
This panchayat is 4 km from the block headquarters. Over 200 tribals and some SC families live in 10 villages. These villages are Gobarighati, Nisithal, Atakana, Padakona, Chauli, Sarubali and Nadana and Dumburipodi
The villagers have to face a lot of difficulties in availing safe drinking water and have to collect water from pits and rivulets. Women gathering around a pit are found routinely in the area.
Electricity has been a dream, even though poles have been installed in some villages.
“We have no safe drinking water in these villages. The block administration spends a lot for drinking water projects in other villages. We are deprived of this,’ the residents alleged.
Consumption of contaminated water from the pit often causes health hazards for the people, they said. They have demanded immediate step for redress their problems.
PNN
