Naktideul: With the onset of summer, drinking water crisis has affected many tribal-dominated pockets under Naktideul block in Sambalpur district.
As people fail to get adequate quantities of water from tube wells, they are compelled to meet their water requirements from pits in a creek, a report said.
Under the Basudha Yojana, drinking water is provided to rural people. Many villages in the block are deprived of this drinking water scheme. A case in point is Ambapal, a tribal dominated village in the Maoist-infested Panimura panchayat under Naktideul block.
About 25 tribal families used to reside at Raibania village inside a reserve forest. The administration dislocated them at Ambapal a few years ago.
The administration has provided them various facilities like housing and solar lights, but they are deprived of safe drinking water. People said that shortage of water has now become a major problem in summer.
They have demanded deep tube wells in the area to alleviate the situation. Social activists observed that the government executes the Basudha Yojana to ensure safe drinking water to people in rural pockets.
A project under this scheme should be taken up to deliver safe water to the tribal people, who have been struggling with water shortage throughout the year, they suggested.
Villagers said, “We don’t have tube wells or open wells in the locality. In this situation, we have no other way, but are bound to feed on water from Ghodanala, a creek, that flows on the outskirts of the village.
In summer, the creek also dries up. We dig pits in the riverbed and collect water.” In monsoon, they also use the creek water.
“Though we have drawn attention of the sarpanch, no step is being taken to sort out the potable water problem,” they rued.
When contacted, BDO Vivekananda Sahu said people of Ambapala have aprised the block administration about the water problem. An engineer of the RWSS has been told to make provision for drinking water for the village as soon as possible,” he assured.
PNN