PERAMBALUR: Residents of Perali in the district complain of inadequate supply of potable water despite two wells having been dug up over four years ago to facilitate additional supply.
They also demand immediate implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in their village. According to sources, potable water is supplied to over 1,000 families in the village of Veppur block through four overhead tanks. Of these, two are non-functional due to “lack of maintenance”.
As there is no direct supply to households, villagers depend on the street taps. Further, residents say water is supplied once in every four days, that too for less than 45 minutes, leading to a queue when it is made available.
This leaves villagers who live farther from the public taps at disadvantage. The water pressure to taps in most streets, including South Street, is poor, they added. Due to this, most of them are left with few options but to buy water cans.
Following this, the issue was taken up by the authorities and about Rs 30 lakh was allocated towards digging two wells in the village. However the wells have been left unused and pipelines have not been laid, allege residents. R Ramesh, a resident said,
“The water supplied from public taps gets over quickly. Due to this, we have ended up without a drop of water for several days and have to buy it from the store daily.” “We need more than 10 vessels of water daily for our daily needs. Now that summer is here we will need more,” he added.
Another resident, R Ravi, said, “The panchayat has been delaying the distribution of water for three years even after digging the wells. Also, the authorities implemented the Jal Jeevan Mission for villages around. Why has it not been implemented here yet?” When contacted, a senior rural development department official said, “Funds were allocated for digging wells. However, pipelines were not laid which will be set up soon.”