Koraput (Odisha): Even India's fight against the novel coronavirus is making the battle much more challenging, residents of Dangari Maliguda village of Odisha's Koraput district are facing an acute drinking water scarcity for many past years.
Due to alleged negligence from administration and state authorities, locals of Dangari Maliguda village are forced to drink untreated water from a direct source of a rivulet flowing down from the mountains.
In a temporary solution to their problem, the government had installed a bore well middle of the village but that is unfit for drinking. Inevitably, generations of families residing in this village counting to over hundreds in population including children are affected by water-borne diseases like malaria, dysentery, cholera, diarrhoea, and many others.
While there are a few among them who still hope and wait for a situation that will resolve their acute drinking water scarcity shortly.
"The condition of the spring is also precarious. From early morning we go there in search of water carrying brass and earthen pitchers. We collect water in small utensils and put it into the pitchers after filtering the same. Later we use the water for our daily household chores. It has become a herculean task for the villagers to overcome this scarcity of water being witnessed from the beginning of the summer season," said Padmini, a villager.
On the other hand, the Block Development Officer of Koraput, Narendra Nayak has given an assurance that the necessary steps would be taken to solve this problem.
Notably, the government is boasting several times that provision of safe drinking water to every family is one of its primary responsibilities, but the difficulty being faced by these tribal people of Koraput has put a question mark on the success of the government’ s planning.
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