CHITRADURGA: After his visit in January to adopt Bandlarahatti, which is severely affected by fluoride, Prakash Rai has never turned up at the village, rue its residents. The versatile actor was in Bandlarahatti of Hiriyur taluk on January 27, 2018, to learn about problems fluoride was causing to its inhabitants.
He then interacted with the villagers and had firsthand experience of the fluoride issue. That is when he vowed to rid the village of the ill effects of fluoride and sought co-operation of the villagers in his endeavour.
At that time, he had said that “with active support, problems of the village can be overcome at the earliest”. He also requested everyone to join hands to “root out” the fluoride problem because of its presence in drinking water and make Bandlarahatti a “model” village.
Almost a year after that ambitious beginning, he has not turned up at the village nor has he sent his team to assess the situation. Gram panchayat officials took the initiative and assessed the water status and prepared a project report that suggests expenses of about Rs 50-60 lakh to improve the purity of water the villagers consume and sent it to the actor. “Rai is yet to respond to us over the matter,” a GM member told ‘The New Indian Express’.
Ramesh, a lecturer of Bandlarahatti village said that the actor assured to adopt the village in January. “Due to his busy engagements, he has not turned up. This has left residents of the village a disillusioned lot,” he said.
In a recent telephonic conversation, the actor is said to have expressed his inability to meet the villagers due to prior engagements in the film industry and said that the work on providing safe drinking water should be taken up on a war footing.
He showed concern at how some villagers suffered various bone-related diseases and multiple disorders after consuming borewell water here over a prolonged period of time. “The administration should find an alternate water source till the problem is sorted out,” he said.
According to Rural Water Supply and Sanitation department at Chitradurga, water in Bandlarahatti is highly contaminated because of excessive fluoride in it, due to which residents here suffer various ailments. “A recent survey of groundwater from five points in the village revealed that fluoride it contained was 2.59, 1.29, 1.40, 1.85 and 2.50 PPM. The permissible limit is 1.40 PPM.
Sajida, an engineer in the department said that out of five borewells, two have dried up, two are yielding very negligible and only one borewell has enough water. Noted groundwater specialist N DevaRaia Reddy told ‘The New Indian Express’ that the village is having high contamination level and the water is not suitable for any use. “Supply of surface water can help the villagers overcome the problem,” he added.