Jharsuguda industrial town suburbs are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water with wells drying up and the municipality authorities failing to supply piped water in those areas.
Unscheduled power cuts and frequent power fluctuations have become a routine affair in the industrial town of Jharsuguda. Drinking water scarcity and power cuts have affected normal live in and around Jharsuguda town amidst blistering heat wave conditions.
Sources said that there are 220 standposts and 666 tube wells in the Jharsuguda Municipality area. Most of these tube wells are not working due to fall in groundwater level everywhere. Wells and ponds have dried up.
As regards to standposts, while five out of 24 wards have been provided with sufficient standposts, five others have been partially supplied and the rest 14 have no standposts at all.
Residents of Mungapara, Marwaripara, Cox Colony, Sarasmal, Sarbahal, Railway Colony, Gayatri Vihar and Shukhuwa Godown area are the worst sufferers. ‘One or two water tankers come to supply water in our area, but not regularly. We are forced to wait for a tanker for a whole day as we have no other source to get water. Sometimes, we fail to go to work to earn our living,” said Rukmani Suna, a daily wager.
According to PHED sources, the total requirement of water in the Jharsuguda municipality area is about 138.8 lakh liter while only 49.4 lakh litre is being supplied through standposts and pipes.
Manini Oram and Sneha Munda of Sarasmal village said they have to collect drinking water from a tube-well situated about one kilometre from their homes. “We have to stand on a long queue and witness bitter experience as people often quarrel with each other to take water first,” said Manini.
Many other town dwellers alleged that the Public Health Engineering Department and the Jharsuguda Municipality are not taking any step to resolve water scarcity problem.
Jharsuguda Municipality Chairman Harish Ganatra said, “We are trying to engage more tankers soon to supply water in the town and nearby areas for which the district administration has requested to us. Recently the district Collector convened a meeting to chalk out a contingency plan for the purpose.”