DHENKANAL: Digging pits on the sandy bed of streams to collect water is a daily ritual for survival of the tribal residents of Kaju Sahi village in Saptasajya gram panchayat of Sadar block.
While the men dig up pits thrice daily, the women collect water from them and use it for drinking and other purposes. The only tube well in the village has been lying defunct forcing the Munda and Santal tribals to rely on the unsafe water collected from the pits.
The plight of tribals residing in adjacent Bana Sahi and Majhi Sahi village is similar. They have access to tube wells but the water is not fit for consumption. They too rely on forest streams for drinking water.
Collecting water from the pits is again fraught with danger as the villages are near the reserve forest from where elephants often stray into the area.
Mukuta Purty, a resident of Kaju Sahi said he recently had a narrow escape while returning after collecting water from a pit in the nearby forest. He said the tube well in the village has not been functioning since its inception.
Another villager Srikant Laguri said his wife and child were afflicted with diarrhoea after consuming water from a pit.
Apart from water, connectivity is a major challenge for the villagers. Pata Laguri of Kaju Sahi said patients from the village are taken on auto-rickshaws to Kankadahada from where they are taken to hospital in ambulances.
The problems were recently discussed at the district level task force committee meeting on malaria and dengue held in the presence of CDMO and other health officials. Meanwhile, RWSS Executive Engineer Bijayananda Sahoo said a technical team will be sent to the village and steps taken to provide drinking water to the villagers soon.