The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed the Rural Development (RD) Principal Secretary and the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) Engineer-in-Chief (EIC) to probe a report which stated that around one crore villagers in Odisha are facing acute drinking water crisis in summer.
The direction of the OHRC came after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) transferred a petition filed by Angul-based Human Rights Watch secretary Sangita Swain which citied a media report titled 1 cr villagers to go thirsty this summer published in The Pioneer on April, 2 2015.
The State commission has on February 29, directed the two top officials to respond within eight weeks and posted May 23 as the next date of hearing.
The commission in the order has observed, “The petitioner has alleged that one crore villagers in Odisha are facing acute shortage of drinking water and at many places the quality of ground water is found to be quite unfit for human consumption despite a plethora of schemes being implemented by the Government. Since the issue raised by the petitioner is general in nature, let notice sent to RD Principal Secretary and RWSS EIC for enquiring into the allegations and submit their report within eight weeks.”