Binika: For people living in Tileimal village of Babupali panchayat under this block in Sonepur district, drinking water has become poison.
Tileimal village is a one ward revenue village. Its population is 400 or so. These people mostly belong to scheduled tribe, scheduled caste and other backward classes and live largely on agriculture.
The village seems to be stuck in a time warp. While the villagers’ wish list is long, their primary demand is pure drinking water.
They complain the water available in their locality, including the groundwater, has become poisonous. “Consuming this water when many of us are suffering from kidney-related problems has led to many deaths,” they complained.
The village has a drinking water project run by solar power. However, it hardly meets the requirement of the people. Besides this, there are three tube wells in the village. Of them, only one is functioning, but dispensing iron and fluoride content water.
“Since we are not getting the required quota of our drinking water, we are forced to use the tube well water. We know that the water is making us ill but we have no choice,” they alleged.
As a result of prolonged use of iron and fluoride content water, the villagers are suffering from many kidney-related ailments.
While Ranju Chhatar (25), Rajkumar Jal (40) and Pratima Mallick (48) are among the villagers who died of kidney-related problems, Bhanumati Bagh (60), Lambodar Bihar (50) and Laxman Mallick (48) are living with the complications of the disease. “In absence of proper medical treatment, their body parts have started swelling,” they alleged.
The village is yet to be connected with a fair-weather road. The road they are using to reach nearby markets or panchayat office is actually a bund passing through farmlands. In rainy season, they remain cut off from the rest of the world as the bund gets submerged for days together.
The literacy rate is abysmally low in the village. The literate ones are no longer living in the village as they have settled somewhere else.
Venting their ire against political leaders, they said, “These leaders visit our village during election time, promising us moon and stars. But after election, they visit us once in a blue moon.”
“If our problems are not addressed, we will not participate in any kind of elections in the coming days,” threatened Nrupa Bagh, Bichitrananda Padhi, Bimal Kudei, Tikilai Kudei and some others.
When contacted, sarpanch Chandra Kumar Mahapatra said the panchayat is constructing Tileimal-Rampur canal road from its own funds. It will be completed very soon. Similarly, a plan for Tileimal-Talamunda main road has already been finalised.
“In the coming days, while emphasis would be given on health, education and communication facility in the village, priority would be given to the water problem,” he added.
PNN
