BERHAMPUR: People of Kusapalli village under R Udayagiri block in Gajapati district are facing severe water crisis since last month. The village comprises 150 families. Women are forced to wait for hours in long queues to fetch a pot of water from tube wells.
The village has five tube wells and a deep bore well. However, the bore well and three tube wells have been lying defunct since long. Moreover, the ground water level of the two functioning tube wells is also decreasing, and thus water is released in long intervals.
In such a scenario, some women walk for over a kilometer to collect water from the water body. Ward member of the village Jyotshna Sethi said the authorities had been apprised of the water scarcity problem. However, no steps have been taken to resolve the problem.
The villagers had also informed the district authorities at Gajapati Collectors’ grievance cell about the problem. They had urged the administration to repair the defunct tube wells or else arrange alternative water supply.