Rayagada: With the summer approaching fast and intense heat waves hovering around 41 degree Celsius making life miserable in this district, residents of Rajbikrampur village under Gulumunda panchayat are a worried lot. A drinking water project there is lying defunct for the past three years, reports said.
Like every year, an acute water crisis is feared by the villagers as the mercury is on the rise.
To provide water to more than 1,000 residents of Rajbikrampur, Dhepaguda, Majhiguda and Golguda areas under Gulumunda panchayat, the district water and sanitation department began work on the 60-litre overhead tanker, costing Rs 60 lakh, three years back. Through the project, the villagers would be provided with piped water from a river.
Even as the department had targeted completion of the work within six months, the project remains defunct for three years. As a result, adequate drinking water supply has become a huge problem for the villagers. Left with no option, the villagers depend on a tube well for drinking water purposes. Moreover, women have to trek 2km to and fro to fetch water from a pond.
The consumption of the untreated pond water has resulted in a spread of many diseases in the villages.
When contacted, block water and sanitation department SDO Pratap Behera said contractors engaged in the construction work had left the work half-way. “It might take another month to connect electricity and finish all the related works before the water supply finally commences,” he added.
