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Safe water a mirage for villagers in Vizianagaram dist
People are suffering from water-borne diseases due to consumption of unsafe drinking water in Vizianagaram district. It is learnt that 1,600 villages have safe drinking water, while the district administration is not gearing up to meet the high demand for the ensuing summer. Public who are living near small rivers, streams are consuming polluted water.
Gajapathinagaram (Vizianagaram): People are suffering from water-borne diseases due to consumption of unsafe drinking water in Vizianagaram district. It is learnt that 1,600 villages have safe drinking water, while the district administration is not gearing up to meet the high demand for the ensuing summer. Public who are living near small rivers, streams are consuming polluted water.
According to the rural water supply department authorities, 40 per cent of the habitations did not have safe drinking water facility as they are still depending upon streams and borewells and wells.
Thousands of people are being affected with cholera, diarrhoea in Parvathipuram and Salur Agency areas in the district due to drinking of polluted water. A large number of people are suffering from diseases, as they are drinking unprotected water.
The people, who are in a position to afford, are reportedly purchasing mineral water. The villages in Bhogapuram and Pusapatirega mandal, which are near to sea coast, are also getting salty water from borewells and tubewells. Around 16,000 tubewells and 3,000 borewells in the district are under repair.
The rural water supply authorities are monitoring 1,150 water supply schemes in villages, but 120 schemes are not working. Some of the motors are under repair and the sarpanhes concerned did not have enough funds to repair them.
Villages like Kotipam, GR Valasa, Gumpa, which are on the banks of Jhanjavathi, are still consuming unprotected river water as they did not have water schemes. Even Vizianagaram town is also not in a position to provide pure drinking water on a regular basis as Tarakarama Teertha Sagar Project is still under construction.
A water project, which is proposed to complete with the budget of Rs 35 crore, is still under construction in Pachipenta to provide water to 80 villages. The public of these areas are waiting for completion of the scheme.
KP Naidu, sarpanch of Kummarikunta panchayat said: “Our villages did have water schemes and some people are purchasing mineral water from market to protect themselves from water borne diseases.”
G Gayatridevi, superintending engineer of the Rural Water Supply Department said: “We are planning to complete all the pending projects on a war footing by this summer. We have sent proposals to the government for more funds to complete the schemes.”
