R Udaygiri: It’s only April and the summer has merely begun. Indubitably, the coming days will be more humid and hot with the mercury hovering around 45 degrees Celsius. The state government and the respective district administrations should brace up for a scorching summer however at Nuagada in Gajapati district, the residents are reeling under intense water scarcity.
Locals alleged that a drinking water project in the village has been lying defunct for a long time but the authorities have not been paying any heed towards it.
Shaktikanta Behera, a trader here, said, “The block administration had set up this drinking water project at a cost of Rs 4 lakh.” Three delivery points were given – one near the hospital, another at panchayat office and one at the block office, he added. However, a few days after its functioning, the project started developing snags and has remained dysfunctional since then. Now, people are facing a lot of problems to get water, he lamented.
Since then, the locals have been pressing for repair of the project but the administration hardly pays any heed, locals said.
When asked sarpanch Mani Mandal passed the buck to the block administration saying, “The administration has not handed over the project to the panchayat. The block is responsible for its repair.”
When the correspondent contacted junior engineer (JE) of the RWSS, Prabhakar Muni, he expressed his ignorance and replied that he was not aware of the project.
However, he assured that he would look into the matter and take steps to repair it “if it was lying defunct.”
Meanwhile, vexed residents sough to know if the state had been claiming to have provided the basic necessities to all its people then why the project has been lying so. As the summer is heading to become worse, the defunct project may spell doom for the residents, they added.
PNN
