Tigiria -: The residents of Ward No. 10 in Sunthipal village under Hatamala Panchayat of Tigiria Block have alleged that they have been suffering from a severe water crisis for a long time. The Basudha Yojana, a government scheme intended to supply drinking water to every village through pipelines, has become a distant dream for the locals. As a result, villagers are forced to walk more than half a kilometre daily to fetch a pot of drinking water.
The villagers have demanded that the local administration urgently intervene to ensure access to potable water through the Basudha Yojana. Until then, they have requested that water tankers be arranged to meet their daily needs.
It is worth noting that Ward No. 10 of Sunthipal village, located in Hatamala Panchayat of Tigiria Block, is home to about 40 families and over 300 people. The villagers rely solely on a single well and a hand pump for drinking water. However, recent tests have shown that the water from the hand pump contains a high level of fluoride, making it unsafe for consumption.
Due to this, the entire population depends solely on the village’s only well. But the well is unable to meet the needs of such a large population, especially during the summer when the water level drops significantly. As a result, villagers can often be seen walking long distances from the village, carrying buckets and containers to fetch water.
Despite the Basudha Yojana aiming to provide piped water to all villages in the panchayat, Sunthipal remains excluded from its benefits. It has been revealed that water is not reaching the village at all, reportedly because it is situated at a higher elevation. This has been confirmed by departmental officials.
