With the mercury having soared and a larger number of wells, ponds, rivers and other water sources having dried up in the hilly and forested Narsinghpur block, acute drinking water problem has haunted the locals.
According to sources, almost all the 33 gram panchayats are reeling under the problem, while it is serious in Deobhuin panchayat. Chaunrinal, Khamarsahi, Majhisahi and Bhutbania villagers under the panchayat use only two tube-wells for collecting drinking water.
At present both the tube-wells are not in a position to cater to the needs of the villagers. They have to wait hours to collect one or two buckets of water in queue. This apart, the tube well at Bhutabania village has no platform around it.
The villagers of Majhisahi and Bhutbania use the pond water available at half a km from the villages as its alternative. The villagers of these villages have alleged that they suffer from different diseases by drinking polluted water from the pond. The four villages are not connected by regular roads and are exempted from Anganwadi centre for which their children are deprived of primary education. Moreover, only 27 families out of 250 are connected with electricity. Immediate attention of the administration has been sought by the Athagarh Civil Society and Athagarh Press Club.