Rourkela: Residents of Bonai, Lahunipara and other localities in the Sundargarh district have always suffered due to a lack of supply of drinking water. Currently, they are very peeved at the tardy manner in which work is going on for the construction of various drinking water projects by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department. The RWSS department had earlier stated that a water supply system would be built which will ease the crisis in the entire Bonai Assembly constituency.
However, it has yet to materialise. Bonai suffers from a perennial crisis as the groundwater level is shrinking rapidly. However, residents of the constituency have no idea when the project will be completed. This is because of the absence of information regarding the project. There is no timeline providing information regarding the beginning and end of the project, the cost involved and when water supply will start.
The RWSS department also began construction of projects at various places including Jhumkiband, Lahunipara, Lathikata, Bonaigarh and Kuanrmunda under Biramitrapur municipality. However, no one knows when they will be operational. A drinking water project is being constructed at Jhumkiband just adjacent to the Brahmani River. Huge water tanks are visible at the site, but those have remained dry since ‘time immemorial’, some residents said sarcastically. It should also be pointed here that all the projects are being handled by a single company. This has raised doubts as to whether it can handle so many projects simultaneously. “May be, this is the main reason for the delay in completion,” opined some residents. They added that despite seeking information from officials of the RWSS department regarding the projects they have not got any satisfactory answers. Even though top officials of the RWSS were unavailable, a junior engineer pointed out that the projects were delayed due to some ‘internal issues’. “Those have been sorted and work on projects will pick up pace soon,” he said.