KENDRAPARA: Women from villages in Badakula gram panchayat under Kendrapara’s Mahakalapada block staged a protest over shortage of drinking water in the region on Tuesday with empty pots and buckets.
The villagers blocked the road near Aitipur chowk in Mahakalapada, due to which traffic was disrupted for nearly three hours.
A resident Rajani Behera said, “The water pipelines laid by the government were damaged last month, resulting in leakage due to which we are not getting any water in the villages. We also urged the authorities to repair the damaged pipelines and the tube wells in our villages several times, but not action has been taken so far.”
Another resident, Soudamini Jena of Aitipur village under Mahakalapada, said, due to damage to water pipelines, non-functional tube wells and lack of water supply through tankers, people are forced to use contaminated water from ponds, rivers, and other unsafe sources.
Assistant engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in Mahakalapada block Subrat Sahoo said, villagers were receiving water through pipelines from Kalagada mega water project. However, three key pipelines of the RWSS department were accidentally damaged last month during the laying of oil pipelines by a private company, resulting in the water shortage.
“We have urged the company to repair the damaged pipelines at the earliest, and they have assured us work will be completed soon. We are supplying water through tankers to some of the affected villages and already repaired many of the defunct tube wells,” he added.