A majority of the hamlets in all the village panchayats in the district have been provided with public water taps for supplying potable drinking water through different comprehensive drinking water schemes.
However, the irony is that water is not being supplied through these public taps even once a week, lament a cross section of the villagers.
While Pottammal, a daily wage earner of Ammapettai, says that she has to walk for a long distance for getting a pot of drinking water, Raja, running a brick kiln, says that he and other villagers have been purchasing water for both the kiln and drinking and other purposes.
“We are hiring tankers to procure water from Karipatti village situated about 10 km away,” says Raja.
A 2,000 litre tanks costs Rs.
500 and 1,000 litres Rs.
A cross section of the people of Vettaikaranur in Athanurpatti village panchayat, all daily wagers, complained that they were getting water for about 10 minutes once in a fortnight in the public taps.
What is more disturbing is that the people do not know when they will get water in public taps.
The residents of various villages surrounding Belur visit the town in two-wheelers to fetch drinking water.
This reservoir too has become totally dry, leading to ground water level going down alarmingly.