Kendrapara: The tribal village of Santalasahi under Barimula gram panchayat of Derabish, just 5km from district collectorate, is reeling under acute drinking water shortage, thanks to summer and official apathy.
About 50 families with a population of more than 300 have been residing at Santalasahi. Though the village has three tube wells, the villagers have to depend on only one as the water from the other two are not fit for human consumption. The water that comes out of them is saline and has high iron content. Every day, it’s common to see several women wait near the only tube well with buckets and pots to collect drinking water.
According to Salge Soren, a woman of Barimula Santala basti, “every day we have to wait in lines at least for half an hour near the tube well to draw a bucket or a potful of water. Several times arguments had erupted near the tube well among village women over water “.
The village has been facing drinking water scarcity for last seven years. But their woes are yet to be solved, Minati Hansda, a woman from Jagulaipada village said.
During summer, the villagers generally face acute drinking water shortage. If the only tube well on which the villagers depend for drinking water goes dysfunctional, then they have to trek half a kilometre to fetch some drinking water.
Most of the time, the villagers have to depend on local ponds for bathing and cleaning purpose, though their water is dirty. But in summer, they go dry, leaving the villagers in the lurch. During the rainy season, water will be there but the villagers face other problems like road connectivity. They have to walk a mud road to reach the tube well to collect drinking water in the absence of an all-weather road.
An effort was made in 2011, to supply piped water to Santalasahi. But for reasons unknown to the villagers, the water had failed to reach the stand posts after a month or two, said Salma Majhi, a local .
“We have several times brought the water problem to the notice of the local sarpanch, the concerned official of RWSS department, BDO of Derabish and also the district collector. We have demanded several times to provide piped water to the village. But the concerned officials offered only lip service,” Bela Hansda, the ward member of Santalasahi, said.
The tribal villagers threatened agitation if the administration would not take steps to provide piped water to Santalasahi.
When contacted, District Collector Reghu G stated that the matter has come to his notice a week back when some villagers of the tribal basti met him. He has directed the concerned BDO to look into the demands of the people of Santalasahi and solve their drinking water problems.
