The people of Jampara village under Gaurmal panchayat in coal rich Brajrajnagar Assembly constituency are grappling with the water crisis in the district even as summer has just started.
Women and children are forced to walk more than two kms everyday to fetch water. The nearest water body is Ghogharjor nullah. They have to dig up dried up nullah bed up to four feet to obtain water every summer.
Jampara village, located 22 kilometres from the district headquarters, is inhabited the tribals most of whom are daily labourers. They work in stone quarries surrounding the village which has not seen any kind of development.
The village has only one deep borewell. But, the villagers said its water is muddy and stinking.
Talking about their condition, Jamini Kharia (39) said, “Every morning I have to trek several kilometres to fetch water from dry Ghogharjor nullah.”
The gravity of the situation can be estimated from the fact that every summmer many villagers like Babu Kharia (54) migrate to other areas where water availability is relatively better and return during monsoon.
When contacted, BDO Pankaj Pradhan said with no natural source of water, the stone quarries are tapping ground water. As their number has been rising, the ground water level has gone down drastically. However, he assured that the district administration would ensure water supply through tankers from first week of April to minimise the woes of the villagers.