John Wilbert & Vikramaditya
Port Blair, March 23: A major part of Shanthipur village under Swadesh Nagar Panchayat is currently facing a severe water crisis, with villagers being forced to fetch muddy water from nearby nallahs. The situation has become so dire that in a few places women and children have to travel long distances to collect water for daily use.
As water crisis has been reported in different parts of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, including Port Blair City, in Swadesh Nagar Panchayat, wards number 1, 2, and 3 are the worst affected. Many villagers have been grappling with the crisis for the past two months, with many houses located more than 500 meters away from the main road making it impossible to access water tankers.
According to some villagers, they have been forced to fetch water from far-off places for the past month. The crisis has worsened in the last two weeks, with many villagers now being forced to collect muddy water from nallahs.
The situation has become so bad that around 25 people from the village have taken up the task of rejuvenating an old ring well near Bhuth Nath Temple in Shanthipur Village, which has the potential to collect and store huge amounts of water.
The Pradhan of the Gram Panchayat Swadesh Nagar, Mr. Debabrata Das, told Andaman Sheekha Daily that the village has been facing water crisis for the last five years in both the monsoon and dry seasons. Last week, the Panchayat identified an old ring well, which was constructed 20 years ago but has been lying unused and covered in grass and mud.
The Pradhan said that APWD officials have informed him that the ring well has a good potential of ground water source and can easily supply enough water to the entire village.
Mr. Das added that around 25 villagers have been working tirelessly to clean the well by hand for the last six days, but they are now facing a severe financial crunch as they have no source of income. The Panchayat does not have any funds to hire people with proper equipment and machinery to complete the work.
Mr. Das has informed the Deputy Commissioner of North and Middle Andaman about the crisis and demanded immediate intervention to resolve the issue. The villagers are now calling for the deployment of concerned departments and experts, along with necessary funds and machinery to ensure sustained availability of water.
The villagers have warned that they will stage a protest against the administration if their demands are not met immediately.
Here the million dollar question is that when APWD and District Administration knew about the well then why was the well not cleaned and put into use before the dry season? Hope the District Administration of North and Middle Andaman will immediately look into the matter and help villagers to get fresh water.
