Nirakarpur: Khorda district’s largest pond at Dia village under Tangi block has become the breeding place for mosquitoes, making the lives of villagers in two panchayats miserable.
With the embankment the pond’s area is 11 acres and 784 decimals. This is now fully covered with aquatic weeds. To get the pond rid of these overrun weeds, Rs 30 lakh and Rs 20 lakh were spent in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
The concerned department floated tenders and had the works done through contractors but the weeds reappeared later.
Though the water of this pond is not good for anything some people are bathing in it. They are complaining of various kinds of skin diseases.
While reptiles have found a place to live in the overgrown weeds, the other aquatic animals have problems in moving and breathing freely in the pond, some villagers pointed out.
The people who are living near the pond are facing a lot of problems.
While the water of the pond has started stinking unbearably, the possibility of malaria and dengue cannot be avoided due to the presence of mosquitoes.
They also live in the fear that reptiles might sneak into their houses anytime.
Last year some villagers took the pond on lease for rearing fish. At that time, the villagers contributed money and got the pond cleaned.
The villagers have demanded that either the district administration or the block administration should take steps to remove the weeds from the largest pond of the district.
