There are very few villagers who have hope that the situation will change sometime in the near future.
Ahmed says, “We don’t have any option but to collect water from ponds, puddles or tube wells in neighbouring villages”.
“We have raised the issue with the MLA from South Karimganj, Aziz Ahmed Khan, and other political leaders a number of times, but no steps were taken to resolve the drinking water crisis in our villages,” he adds.
“We continue to suffer not just from scarcity of drinking water, but we are also without electricity as well,” he adds Enam Uddin, the joint-secretary of Model NGO, said diseases like diarrhoea, stomach-disorder are quite common in villages suffering from the water crisis.
He has stated that he would soon take up the matter with Assam PHE minister, Rihon Daimari, and urge him to take the necessary steps to solve the problem of water scarcity in the villages under his constituency.
Krishnendu Paul, BJP legislator from Patharkandi, Karimganj, told Indiatimes that work to set up water supply plants in the district will be initiated this year and more will come up next year.
“I have asked the minister for a high-level probe into these scams.” Karimganj district has five constituencies – Karimganj South, Karimganj North, Patharkandi, Ratabari and Badarpur.
“There are more than 300 water supply plants in the district and nearly 140 are non-functional, while many other plants do not function smoothly,” he said.
“Nearly 80% of the water supply plants in Karimganj district have been lying defunct for years.” The legislator promises that he will raise the issue in the Assembly again so that defunct water supply plants are revived and new plants are set up wherever needed.
Sources said more than 600 villages across the district face this problem of impure drinking water.