Intaliguda residents in water crisis: Solar-powered motor nesting on trees for two years

Dr.Badal Tah,Odishabarta

Associate editor

Rayagada, June 14: Water is elixir of life. Therefore, the state government is spending crores of rupees to provide water to the people through various schemes. In tribal areas like Rayagada, emphasis is given to provide safe drinking water through solar powered bore wells.

But the lack of sincerity of departmental officials is clearly evidenced by the water crisis situation in Intaliguda, a non-descript tribal village in Kalyan Singhpur block. This is not a very remote village and accessible by a tar road from the block headquarters. The innocent villagers have to struggle for water for cooking, drinking, washing. About 70 poor tribal families live here. All of them work as daily wage laborers. The population is about 300. There are three tube wells here out of which one is broken & dysfunctional, while the other one stops functioning after few minutes of water withdrawal, said Janita Hikaka. There is only one tubewell leading to sheer water scarcity in the village. 

The government had set up a solar system to store water in the overhead tank, but it has been broken for two years and the motor with pipes is kept on a tree branch like a bird nest. People are living like desert animals with little water for cooking and drinking, while they are struggling to bathe and defecate. Women, in particular, are living a life of hardship, while men are relying on the Binispur river flowing two km away for bathing and defecating, said Ranjan Hikaka, Purandar Hikaka, Prakash Kunaka, Ranjit Hikaka and Apparao Hikaka of the village. There are other issues also in the village. But, primarily ,the villagers have demanded that the block administration immediately resolve the water issue