Jhumpura: The government pumps in crores of rupees under the Swajaladhara Yojana to provide safe drinking water in rural areas. But such water remains elusive to the people living in several remote panchayat areas and in forests pockets under tribal-dominated Jhumpura block in Keonjhar.
The hapless people here don’t have access to something as basic as drinking water and are hence left with no way but to drink water from pits, streams and nullahs as work of many solar powered projects await completion or have gone defunct.
People have been facing lots of difficulties in getting safe drinking water throughout the year. Most of them end up picking up various diseases in these areas where healthcare is out of reach.
Though work of solar-powered drinking water projects has been taken up in some panchayats, many projects are yet to see the light of the day while some projects have conked out even few days after functioning.
A report said, as many as 22 panchayats are affected by drinking water crisis. About 14 panchayats are located in forest areas, while five panchayats like Malda, Nayagad, Basantpur, Kutugan and Nischitpur are in the hilly and remote areas. These five panchayats are hit by mining activities.
Taking note of the drinking water problem, the government had drawn up a plan in 2016-17 to provide safe drinking water to the people by setting up solar powered tanks. A tender was floated by the government for the solar water projects with each estimated at a cost of Rs 4.50 lakh.
Bhubaneswar-based OREDA had bagged the contract for the project. As per guidelines, the RWSS officials would identify the sites for tube wells and monitor the work.
RWSS sources said, work for 45 solar powered drinking water projects in Malda panchayat; 32 in Supur panchayat; 29 in Kutugan panchayat; 27 in Nayagad panchayat; 19 for three hill-top villages like Kanakana, Haridajoda and Deojhar in Nischintpaur panchayat were taken up. Work was supposed to be completed by May 2017. Unfortunately, many solar-powered projects have not been completed.
Not a single drinking water project was executed in Malda and Nischintapur panchayats. Only 22 out of 332 were made effective in Basantpur; 22 out 29 in Kutugan and 20 out of 27 in Nayagad.
Many solar-powered ones have gone out of order after running for a few days in some panchayats. The RWSS department has several complaints in this regard.
Contacted, executive engineer of the RWSS at Keonjhar, Dayanidhi Sahu said that the department has sent reminders several times to OREDA, seeking to complete the projects.
“Steps are being taken to complete the solar-powered projects and make them effective,’’ he said. PNN
