Rabindranath Biswas
Diglipur, February 10: The residents of Paschimsagar village under Diglipur Tehsil are grappling with an acute water shortage owing to damaged pipelines in the region.
According to information, the existing water distribution pipelines maintained by the APWD have reportedly become completely damaged, resulting in leakage and literally no water supply to the endpoint of the pipelines at Ward No. 04, Gora Nallah of Paschimsagar village.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Daily, the residents of the area said that the villagers are facing significant difficulties in getting drinking water owing to the damaged water distribution pipelines. They have to trek a distance of about 1.5 km to fetch water from another ward called Pathuri Nallah; however, it is reportedly uncertain whether they would get water at Pathuri Nallah after the arduous trek, they rued. They further alleged that the Central Government’s Har Ghar Nal scheme hasn’t been implemented in their area, and hence, they have been suffering due to the dearth of water. They are somehow managing their water needs with the water collected from their hand-dug earth wells, but the water will soon dry up, they lamented.
Andaman Sheekha Daily spoke to Shri Uma Shankar, Pradhan, Gram Panchayat Paschimsagar, and posed questions to him on the water issue of the region. The Pradhan said that pipelines were reportedly laid many years ago and have not been replaced or repaired since, and as a result, they have deteriorated significantly. The pipelines got damaged due to floodwaters during the rainy seasons in the nallahs through which the pipelines were laid, and the damaged pipes were not reportedly replaced or repaired thereafter, he decried. Despite repeated requests from the villagers and the Panchayat, the APWD has reportedly failed to replace the old and damaged pipelines with new ones, the Pradhan further alleged.
Andaman Sheekha Daily further talked to the concerned APWD officials and wanted to know more about the water issue. Sounding quite positive on the matter, the officials said that they have already taken up the plan for the water project and will initiate the official process to address the water problem of Ward No. 04, Gora Nallah of Paschimsagar village as soon as possible, they added.