BARIPADA: Vehicular traffic on the road between Baripada and Udala remain disrupted for over four hours on Monday as residents of ward no 3 and 4 of Patpur village under Khaladi gram panchayat in Mayurbhanj district staged a protest by placing empty pots on the road over water scarcity.
The villagers staged the protest in the morning against the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department of Udala sub-division over non-supply of potable water. One of the villagers, Raimani Biswal said over 400 residents of the two wards, mostly tribals, have been deprived of basic facilities like water. A lone tubewell outside the village is not sufficient to cater to the daily requirements of the residents. To make matters worse, the ground water level in the village has been depleting since November.
The protestors said the RWSS department had laid a pipeline to the village but water has not yet been released into it. Executive engineer of Baripada RWSS department Ashok Kumar Mishra said the villagers lifted the road blockade after they were assured by the officials concerned that water to the locality will be released through pipes soon.