Keonjhar: Even as temperatures keep on soaring, water crisis gripped Gopalpur Udrasahi under Ghatagaon block in Keonjhar.
The tribal families living here have no access to safe drinking water while they have to consume the contaminated water which they collect from an abandoned well on a farmland.
Women carrying water in pitchers and buckets and staggering in precarious foot racks is a common sight here.
“We have been suffering from acute water scarcity over the years.
We have no option but to drink water from that abandoned well.
They said, “There is no protective wall around the well.
Though they have been living on the land for generations, the government has not yet provided them land pattas.
The village is near to NH-20, but an approach road is a necessity, the residents added.
“Crops and houses and other properties are damaged by elephants every year, but no compensation is paid for the loss,” alleged Benjamin Munda.
The villagers demanded that the government should take immediate step to make provision of safe drinking water.