Puri: The Centre and the state government have launched several schemes for the welfare of people, but even today many villagers are struggling to get drinking water.
This is not the case of any remote village of the state but of a village located just 60 km away from Bhubaneswar, the Capital City of Odisha.
At least 350 residents of Nahadia village under Chalishibatia panchayat in Puri Sadar block are dependant on the Bhargavi river and a pond for drinking water.
According to the villagers, all the tube wells at Nahadia have turned saline over the years. As a result, at least 25 people of the village usually depend on Bhargavi river for drinking water while the remaining 75 per cent quench their thirst with water from a pond.
“We boil the water collected from the river and pond and use it as drinking water. However, many villagers often suffer form diarrhoea and skin diseases due to the consumption of contaminated water,” said Somanath Jena, a villager of Nahadia.
The villagers claimed that they have raised the drinking water issue with the administration and the elected representatives several times, but to no avail.
“The pond will dry up in the summer. Besides, there will be very low water flow in Bhargavi river. Our village will witness acute shortage of drinking water,” Jena said.
It is learnt that villagers have recently approached the officials of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) department to solve the drinking water issue. “The block administration has promised us to deploy a few tankers to supply us drinking water within a few days. But, we urged them to ensure piped water for our village,” Jena added.