'Promises are meant to be broken': 5T Secy’s claim to supply drinking water to parched villagers proves hollow

At a time when the 5T Secretary is on a whirlwind tour to different parts of Odisha with tall claims of redressing people’s grievances, things seem totally opposite on the ground. The glaring example of hollow promise being made to people was seen at Khordha’s Brahman Bereni village.

The residents said that the 5T Secretary’s assurance was to resolve their drinking water issues within 48 hours, but the promise fell flat. Such promises were made by the 5T Secretary during his visit to the district on August 22 and 23. Even though 12 days have passed to such announcement, things are yet to change for the local residents.

In his address, the 5T Secretary had said, “In which area there is drinking water problem, give your name and phone number. Engineers will visit your place by today evening and the issue will be resolved in 2 days.”

Rabindra Sahu, a local resident said, “After giving in writing during the grievances, engineers visited our place the next day. Ten days have now passed since then, but no work has been taken up so far.”

A reality check by OTV found that a signboard of Basudha yojana has been set up in the area and 10 stand-posts have been installed. However, the locals are yet to get drinking water supply. Not only this, a water tank and pump have been set up under the mini-water supply scheme three years back. All these are lying defunct since the past two years. As a result, nearly 500 people have to depend on a single tube-well.

“There are project and crores of rupees are being spent, but water is yet to reach our village. No official has visited our village,” alleged Dharmananda Sahu, a local resident.

Similar is the situation at Bhogapur village in Narangad panchayat and at Daleiput village under Kuradmal panchayat. The resident of both the villages have submitted grievances during the 5T Secretary’s visit. Even after 12 days, the residents are still waiting for drinking water supply. What is more surprising is the fact that no urgency is also being shown by the concerned administrative officials here.

“We are getting water from well and other sources. Though we got assurance that our grievance will be resolved, it is yet to be implemented,” said Shantilata Behera, Samiti member, Narangad panchayat.

Arun Kumar, a local resident said, “As per 5T Secretary’s direction, the JE was in contact with us for one day. But he failed to resolve the issue despite direction of the 5T Secretary. We have been successful in reaching moon, but we are yet to get drinking water in 2023."

Not only these three panchayats, the 5T Secretary’s assurance of resolving issues within 48 hours is yet to materialise in eight panchayats. The administrative officials refused to comment on the matter. However, RWSS SDO said that it will take time to resolve such issues.