Jamshedpur: Drinking water crisis haunts Kaliyam Gadtola villagers

Women digging holes in dry river bed to extract water

Mail News Service

Jamshedpur, May 22: Kaliyam Gadtola village in Astakowali Panchayat under Dumaria Block is in deep drinking water crisis thanks to the negligence and patchy job execution by the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department officials concerned. The Kaliyam Gadtola villagers have been resorting to quench their thirsts and meet cooking needs from unenviable sources. All that the Department has done is that a water minaret has been constructed and boring for extraction of water has been completed but the means of meeting the purpose of water provision is still going a-begging as the pump is yet to be connected to the motor. Jal Sahiya Parvati while giving this information further added, “The village women too are facing a lot of problem. They have to travel some distance on foot to collect drinking water. They dig holes in the dry river bed and the miserly quantity of water that oozes up is collected in utensils and brought back home to meet the family needs.” The irate villagers have demanded immediate solution to the prevailing drinking water crisis that is haunting them. An elderly Kaliyam Gadtola resident who has lived through several such harrowing times resignedly observed, “This minaret, the boring work done is parts of a shipshape body. Only the heart is missing.”