The tribals in remote areas here were facing acute shortage of safe drinking water as several water supply stations were lying idle without power after cyclone Hudhud-hit the district.
According to officials at Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), the district has at least 348 piped water supply stations and after Hudhud hit Koraput, 30 of them are not functioning. “Once power supply is restored, there will be no problem in supplying water to the villages,” said Executive Engineer of RWSS Manoranjan Mali.
People said the department should supply water through tankers till normalcy was restored. Officials said eight tankers and 16 mobile vans with water-tank had been engaged to supply water to villagers. “Due to remoteness and lack of road communication to some areas, water tankers fail to reach there. Roadside villages are being supplied with tanker water,” Mali informed, adding that as most of the villages had tubewells, the department urged the villagers to use them till water supply was restored.