Khulna, Jan 3 (UNB) – The tin-shed houses are easily flooded in the rainy season.
At times, even the kitchens are inundated, rendering the residents unable to cook meals.
Apart from waterlogging and crumbling homes, unemployment is also forcing residents to leave the project homestead.
The government initiated the project in 2002 to provide housing for the poor and homeless.
There are 24 homes for 240 impoverished families.
Many families, who had originally moved here, had left the place, leaving some of the homes empty.
Constantly fighting nature and poverty are parts of lives of those who are still here.
There is no market nearby or employment opportunities.
He said they were “trying to repair” the houses and dredge the nearby river and canal to solve the water scarcity.
“Initiatives have been taken to rehabilitate the destitute, homeless and the poor in the empty units,” the UNO said.

Use of unhygienic water risking people’s health, PHE says their men working consistently on ground to repair pipes
Residents of Pinglish, Upper Gulshanpora, Gutengoo, Hajin and adjoining villages are facing tough time due to water scarcity which has triggered resentment against the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department in these villages.
The women in this hilly sub-district are forced to walk long distances through difficult hilly terrain to fetch water.
“Amid bone chilling cold, we have to walk at least two kilometers to fetch potable water from another village,” Raja Begum, a housewife said.
She is among dozens of other women who have to fetch water for cooking and drinking purposes.
Though the villagers said that they brought the matter before PHE authorities but till date nothing changed on ground.
The villagers appealed PHE authorities to look into the matter and direct the concerned officials to take necessary measures for restoring water supply in these areas.
Assistant executive engineer PHE sub-division Tral, Nisar Ahmad Kar, said the employees were working on daily basis to repair the frozen pipes.
"We are working consistently to provide water supply in all villages of Tral.
There are few areas where problem still persists but we are working there as well," Kar assured.

The year 2019 is going to be a challenging one for the cash-rich civic body as it will have to deal with a host of problems like parking issues and fire incidents.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will carry on with its water cuts and initiatives to prevent fire incidents in 2019, quite as part of its work in 2018.
The civic body that had already received criticism for 10 per cent water cut in various parts of the city right after Diwali, had an addition to its list of problems with the frequent fire incidents.
However, according to civic officials, water scarcity will be of greater consequence in the summer months when requirement increases and the BMC is expected to meet them with their limited resources.
Aabidi Surti from the Drop Dead Foundation said that around 30 per cent water goes waste in the city.
"It is every individual’s responsibility to prevent wastage of water.
When asked to comment on frequent fire incidents and people losing their lives, advocate Prakash Devdas, President, Municipal Fire Brigade Official Association said combating fire incidents will be another important challenge before the BMC.
He further added,"The failure in implementation of the Act resulted in frequent fire incidents."
In addition to all of this, parking issues across the city is another area the civic body will have to work on.
The civic body that had already received criticism for 10 per cent water cut in various parts of the city right after Diwali, had an addition to its list of problems with the frequent fire incidents

Proper action should be taken to provide adequate drinking water to the public,” said District In-charge Minister G T Devegowda.
He was speaking at a meeting of the officials on drinking water supply in the city at Jaladarshini Guest House here on Sunday.
He instructed the officials to make a separate system for complaints on drinking water problem at Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and provide a telephone number to the public to air their grievances.
Officials of MCC and engineers have to organise a meeting every day to discuss drinking water problems and take action to solve the public complaints.
If there is any financial problem, it has to be brought to the notice of higher officials.
If there is a shortage of staff and officials to look after drinking water supply, write a letter to the state government.
Several areas don’t get water due to improper installation of valves.
Unduvadi and Hongalli water supply projects have to be undertaken soon and the tender holders have to complete the project in time so that the city gets enough water,” he added.
Chamaraja Constituency MLA L Nagendra, executive director of Karnataka Water Supply and Drainage Board N Jayaram, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Sankar, MCC Commissioner KH Jagadeesha and others were present.
(MR/KS) Leave a Reply comments

As Kashmir division and winter zones of Jammu reel under intense cold wave, the state government has cancelled leaves of all officials of departments of public health engineering (PHE) and irrigation and flood control (I&FC) to deal with the water scarcity triggered by the chill.
The government has issued a curricular asking the heads in these departments not to sanction any leave without prior approval of the administrative department.
The circular dated 29-12-2018 reads: “Due to extreme cold climate prevalent in the state, which has resulted in scarcity of drinking water .
“All such officers who have proceeded on leave are hereby directed to immediately resume their duties otherwise strict necessary action shall be taken against them in terms of service conduct rules.
“It is further impressed upon the HoDs that they shall not sanction any kind of leave whatsoever, in favour of the officers of the department without prior approval of the administrative department till water scarcity is over,” the circular issued by secretary to the government PHE, I&FC department reads.
In Kashmir division, the intensity of the cold wave has beaten three decade record.
The summer capital, Srinagar on Thursday witnessed the coldest night with mercury dipping to minus 7.6 degree.
The coldest December night on Thursday was witnessed in Srinagar after 28 years.
The cold wave has led to serious water scarcity across Kashmir as most of the supply lines have frozen.
National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah, party vice president Omar Abdullah, senior leader of Peoples Democratic Party and former Education minister Altaf Bukhari, and Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) have extended warm greetings and best wishes to the students who

Greece is among the countries predicted to face increased water shortages before the end of the century, according to a study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC).
The consequences are mainly attributed to climate change (80 to 90 percent) and secondly to other factors, such as land and water use (10 to 20 percent).
The growing drought in the European South will lead to an increased shortage of water and reduced water supplies for hydroelectric plants in Mediterranean countries such as Greece.
For Greece – in the case of an increase in temperature by two degrees – an annual reduction of 2 percent is expected in the water supply of hydroelectric plants, while for northern Europe an increase of about 13 percent is expected.
However, if the temperature increases by more than 2 degrees, by the end of the century the reduction in hydroelectric plants could reach 10 percent.
Greece and Cyprus are the two countries that will be affected the most by a two-degree rise in temperature.
Water availability will be lower, with an increase of about 100 percent in the water demand to water availability ratio.
The second scenario is that global warming will exceed two degrees Celsius and can even go up to four.
Although in the most optimistic scenario the consequences are expected to be less severe, yet there will still be more floods and more water scarcity to come.
In the good case scenario, in Mediterranean countries including Greece, the number of people expected to be affected by water scarcity by the end of the century will rise from 85 million today to 104 million.

To find a solution for water related tensions that lead to destruction of crops researchers are studying ways to develop systems that could provide early warning to governments about potential droughts.
The Water Peace and Security partnership is investigating methods to monitor risk of water shortage and initiate time based interventions in those areas that could reduce geopolitical tensions as climate change and rising temperature levels around the world is likely to amplify shortage of water.
Several international bodies and even the Department of Defense of US stated that water scarcity has the potential to become a security threat across the globe as it brings on violence and instability.
The group is identifying water scarcity hotspots so that action can be taken before issues escalate and violence occurs as a first step.
Though there is little evidence to suggest that scarcity of water can lead to war it can definitely increase tensions in locations that are politically unstable or there is extreme poverty.
According to experts the Syrian civil war and increased power of militant groups like Boko Haram in Africa can be largely attributed to water scarcity in the region.
These warning systems will include several kinds of data like hydrological information along with satellite based imaging details that will monitor existence of water and movement of monsoon clouds around the globe to calculate risks of conflict.
The group is developing warning system which will first be trained to consider several triggers that could lead to conflicts like weak governments, local disputes etc.
Alice Dominquez has completed her Masters in Science and is very smart technically.
Her logical and aptitude skills are very strong.

Amaravati: AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu released fifth White Paper on "Natural Resources Management" in the state from last four and half years of TDP ruling, on Thursday at Undavalli in Guntur district.
On this occasion, he said that natural resources management is vital for industrial development like setting up of Steel Plant at Kadapa, Kia Motors in Anantapur and others.
He said that the people in the Rayalaseema region have been suffering with the water scarcity.
He said that the state government has been implementing a vision on water management.
Properly maintained water resources both on surface and ground water.
If the water in the ground water go beyond 8 meters of the depth then there will be problem.
Hence we used them judiciously in the state.
We have dug farm ponds and established a water network with the available ponds.
Constructed check dams and achieved interlinking of rivers.
Pattiseema and Purushottapatnam helped in diverting Godavari water.

Pakistan ranks third in the world among countries facing acute water shortage and no person in the Pakistan shall be immune to this shortage, Pakistan touched the water Stress Line in 1990 and crossed the water scarcity line in 2005 and yet the different regimes of power remains negligent towards this water sensitivity.
But with new face as PM of Pakistan who is more concerned about the water crises in Pakistan and warns of draught threat and appeals for donation for the construction of dams.
Imran Khan described the ongoing water crisis as the biggest challenge confronting the country.
Though think tanks of the Pakistan alarmed about the upcoming calamity in the country but the same has gone to the deaf ears of the people at the helm of affairs.
For years, strategic analysis have warned that future conflict would increasingly be over one of the essential of life – water.
Indian PM, Narendra Modi once said that blood and water cannot flow at the same time.
It represents a dramatic use of water as a diplomatic weapon.
India is trying to increase the use of water for irrigation, storage and hydroelectric power, which indicates that the India is pressurizing Pakistan by water more than guns, but at the same time Pakistan is watching India’s moves closely and is unhappy with some of India’s existing water projects.

WATER is one precious source on which life sustains.
The most affected area of the country is Baluchistan, where the level has alarmingly dropped to 1000 ft which was earlier 300 ft. With the growing population of the country, the need for managing more water resources is relentless and inevitable.
The very first reason is the country’s inability and failure to build and conserve large number of water reservoirs or dams during last few decades.
India is also building dams on the western rivers of Pakistan which is jeopardising the pressure that if India releases its stored water, its flow towards Pakistan will cause floods due to its natural geographic landscape of being an upper riparian state.
India is also building dam on Wular Lake whereas Pakistan due to its political disagreement among the political parties has been unable to build a consensus on Kala Bagh Dam.
It is tacit fact that during monsoon season there is surplus water, that can be stored, yet due to lack of inefficient management of water resources it all gets wasted.
Pakistan being an agricultural society is highly dependent on water and irrigation system.
For this purpose, all the stakeholders, provinces, government and political representatives should have consultative dialogue and consensus on adopting new strategies and better options for concerns on water.
Operative management of water resources need to be prioritized and policies need to be defined and resourcefully implemented.
This issue should be tackled very seriously else Pakistan will face grave consequences in near future.