Water scarcity at Jenapada village of Potar gram panchayat under Gajapati district’s Rayagarh block is so acute that members of all its 70 tribal families are forced to trek six kilometer on a hilly road to have a pitcher of drinking water every day.
Though the village, having a total population of 350, has three wells and three tube-wells, they have dried up due to rise in temperature. Despite repeated requests, none of the gram panchayat, block and district authorities have come forward to resolve the problem.
The villagers, braving scorching heat conditions, walk down the hill three km to collect drinking water from a ‘chua’ and then return home with water-filled pots on shoulders. Their woes do not end there as they walk five km daily to take baths in a river.
“The authorities are neither repairing wells and tube-wells nor supplying water by any means,” resented villagers.