Residents of Nawapara, Chhattisgarh, face a severe water crisis, forcing them to enter dried-up wells. The problem is reportedly caused by pipelines damaged during road construction. Officials have acknowledged the issue and promised a quick solution.
Villagers resort to extreme measures
A severe drinking water crisis has gripped Nawapara village under Lohari Gram Panchayat in Chhattisgarh's Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur (MCB) district, with residents allegedly being forced to descend into dried-up wells to fetch water amid extreme heat and a declining water table. The worsening situation has raised concerns over drinking water arrangements in the area, as villagers struggle to secure adequate water for their daily needs.
According to local residents, the water shortage has become so severe that people are required to wait for long hours to collect even a bucket of water. Speaking to ANI, a local resident alleged that the village well had nearly dried up, leaving residents with very limited access to water. "The water crisis here is so severe that the well has dried up. People have to wait, some during the day and others at night, just to fill up with some water. Yet there still isn't enough to meet everyone's needs. We are somehow scraping by with whatever little we get...", he told ANI.
Official response and cause of crisis
Akash Poddar, Executive Engineer (EE), Public Health Engineering Department, told ANI that the issues have been raised with the concerned authorities, and the grievances of the locals would be resolved very soon. "Senior officials and I inspected the site earlier in the day, and water was being distributed throughout the village, a fact I personally verified. However, the distribution line was damaged during construction work carried out under the PMJSY scheme. Consequently, while water reaches the storage tank, it is not being distributed to individual households. The department has brought this matter to the attention of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Suraksha Yojana (PMJSY) authorities and has directed them to rectify the issue as soon as possible."
Moti Singh, Sarpanch of Lohari Gram Panchayat, alleged that the water pipeline was damaged during the construction of the road. "There is a genuine water problem in Nawapada. I have been supplying water to the village via tankers for the past month, yet adequate water arrangements remain elusive. Furthermore, the water tank is leaking, and the pipeline was dismantled during the construction of the road under the PMGSY scheme, even though the supply line from the tank had already been tested. Officials say they will repair the leaking tank, but the tank is currently full of water, making repairs difficult."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)