Power, water supply hit in villages atop Kaimur hills

SASARAM: People living in several villages atop the Kaimur hills in Rohtas district continue to depend on solar energy for water supply. They claim that solar power plants with a capacity of 20 kilowatt each were installed in 11 villages as part of the Centre’s Saubhagya and the state government’s Har Ghar Bijli Scheme in 2018. The grid functioned properly and the villagers got uninterrupted power supply for seven hours everyday.However, the situation changed soon after.
Sexagenarian Laloo Singh Kharwar of Dhansa village told this newspaper, “We were happy when the solar power plants were installed because we got electricity for the first time after independence, but they stopped working after sometime. Our pleas to the authorities concerned fell on deaf ears. The situation is no different in other villages.”
As a result of the power supply crunch, the people also face drinking water crisis. Another local, Mantra Devi, lamented that taps installed in the ‘kachcha’ houses in her village mostly remained dry.
People quarrelling for a bucket of water near the village tube wells is also a common sight. Atoriya Devi of Dhansa village said, “Our water supply depends on when the sun rises because that is when the solar pump starts working.”
40-year-old Mohan Singh Kharawar of Rehal village could not recall the last time an MP or an MLA visited the area in five years. “They come only during elections,” he added.
Executive engineer of the South Bihar Power Distribution Company in Dehri-on-Sone, Som Nath Pasawan, said he was aware of the situation and had asked the company which was entrusted with the task of maintaining the grid to restore power supply.
With acute shortage of water, the villagers have now started defecating in open fields and the toilets built by the administration are in a state of neglect.
Public health engineering department’s executive engineer N Ansari claimed that he had received complaints from the villagers. “Corrective actions will be taken soon,” he added.
With a total population of around 25,000, the hilly villages are primarily inhabited by people belonging to the Oraon and Kharwar tribes.