KENDRAPARA: With the Rs 298 crore mega drinking water project yet to take shape, people in the villages around Bhitarkanika national park continue to depend on the rivers to fetch water for consumption and other purposes and in the process fall victim to crocodile attacks.The water project aimed at providing water to around 220 villages in Rajnagar and Pattamundai blocks.
Former MLA of Rajnagar Alekha Jena said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the project in 2020 and assured that it would be completed within two years. “However, since the project is yet to begin, villagers are being compelled to depend on the crocodile-infested rivers for their water needs and get attacked,” he added.
Sunil Tarei, son of Gangadhar Tarei of Gagharadia village who was killed in crocodile attack, said their village had two tube-wells to cater to the water needs of the locals. “However, since they were lying defunct since the last four months, my father used to go to the river for bathing and got killed by a crocodile,” he added.
Jagannath Acharya, uncle of minor boy Ashutosh of Pattamundai’s Nimapur village who was killed by a crocodile last month, said since the company which is working on the drinking water project has limited staff, the work is progressing at a tardy pace.
“The Forest department has erected barricades at many river ghats to prevent crocodiles from attacking humans but these reptiles enter even the barricaded areas during high tide periods,” said Pramila Sethi of Srirampur village.
Contacted, assistant engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department, Pattamundai, Biswajit Mishra said work of the drinking water project is expected to be completed by 2024.“Drinking water crisis has remained a major issue in the riverside villages and this project will help solve the crocodile menace,” he added.