Padmapur: With the lone tube well at Tentuli Aadia village under Sanakrushnapur panchayat under Basudevpur block in Bhadrak district dispensing saline water, the villagers are forced to use water from ponds and nullahs, making themselves prone to various waterborne diseases.
More than 700 people inhabit this village. To meet their drinking water requirement, a tube well was dug up in the year 2005. The villagers had been using the water from this tube well for drinking and cooking.
The tube well, however, started delivering saline water about eight months back making it unfit for consumption. The villagers have alleged that at one point more than fifty of them suffered from diarrhea after consuming the contaminated water from this tube well.
The villagers had taken up the issue with Basudevpur block development officer (BDO) along with officials of public health and water supply department back in March this year. Taking the complaint seriously, the water supply department had supplied drinking water through tankers. But it was stopped after two months.
To add to the worry, the water in ponds, rivulets and creeks is highly contaminated owing to the rains.
Left with no choice, the villagers have written to the Chief Minister, collector, Basudevpur MLA, executive engineer, junior engineer and block development officer seeking alternative arrangements at the earliest to solve the issue. That said, nothing has come of it so far.
Meanwhile, rural water supply and sanitation department junior engineer Subrat Kumar Padhi said that an estimation for digging up of a new tube well has been sent for approval. Work is likely to begin after due process.
PNN