BHUBANESWAR: Protesting the apathy of officials towards mitigating the water scarcity, womenfolk of Upparput and Jhariaguda villages locked the Khairput block office on Wednesday.
They demanded steps for ensuring permanent piped water supply system to both the villages and in the interim provisioning of water through tankers. The agitators alleged that the officials have turned a deaf ear to their repeated complaints of water crisis.
There are just two tubewells to cater to the water needs of at least 1,000 villagers of Upparput and Jhariaguda in Malkangiri district.
While there has been no let up in the heatwave condition, scarcity of drinking water has made things worse for people in the two villages under Khariput block. There are 300 households in both the villages.
Women of Upparput and neighbouring Jhariaguda village are the worst sufferers as they have to wait under the harsh sun to fill up buckets of water from the tubewells. Water flow from the tubewells has thinned down due to lack of maintenance and cleaning over the years.
They are also forced to collect water from a stream on the outskirts of the villages but it has dried up. Most importantly, the solar water supply project that was set up by the block authority in the middle of Upparput and Jhariaguda has been lying defunct for nearly a year. They alleged that the solar project was instrumental in supplying drinking water to the villages but it was damaged in a gale on May 18 last year. The project has not been repaired so far.
“The tubewells do not suffice in meeting the water needs of all 300 households. We are forced to get water from another stream despite the fact that water is contaminated there,” said Rubina Barik, a resident of Upparput.
Khairput Block Development Officer (BDO) Biswajit Burman rushed to the spot and received a written complaint from the women on water scarcity. The agitators called off the dharna after four hours when BDO Burman assured them to look into the existing situation and depute officials to ascertain provision of drinking water.
Two die after consuming contaminated water
Jeypore: TWO women of Narigan village under Nandapur block of Koraput district died after drinking contaminated water drawn from a traditional water source on Tuesday. A team of healthcare personnel has been sent to the village to investigate the incident. According to reports, several women of the village had collected water from chua (pits) that were dug up on the bed of a dry waterbody on the outskirts of Narigan. After consuming the water, seven villagers complained of vomiting and two of them - Radha Pangi and Sukra Khara - died while being taken to Nandapur and Lamtaput health centres respectively. The other five affected persons have been admitted to Nandapur health centre and their condition is stable. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cause of the deaths is due to drinking contaminated water. The district health administration rushed a medical team to the village to take preventive measures.