Delay in pipeline repair renders Berhampur residents parched for 3 days

Almost half of the residents of Berhampur have been facing an acute shortage of water since the last three days after the Janabili pipeline cracked.

As per reports, people are forced to move to borewells in their respective areas after the PHD water supply dried down. However, with only a handful of handpumps in the Silk City has made their lives miserable.

While the authorities began repairing the pipeline, it is still unclear when the Berhampur residents will be able to receive water in their homes.

A woman from Sriram Nagar Rathasahi said, “This is fourth day since we are out of water supply in this area. Other areas have started to get water, but we are left with this lone tubewell which is discharging dirty water unsuitable for cooking. There are no signs of any water tankers as well.”

“We are forced to drink this dirty water from tubewell after boiling and straining it. I fear for the health of my children,” said another woman of the same area.

People vented their anger on the local administration and the State government over the newly inaugurated Janibili pipeline. “We have never seen such kind of water scarcity in our lifetime. Authorities took bribe, filled their pockets in the construction of Janibili drinking water project. But they never cared to maintain it. The works done on the project is of substandard quality. That is the reason we are water-less just after a couple of years of inauguration of the project,” a local resident said.

The Janibili water supply project, Odisha’s first integrated water supply project was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in March 2019 at Dharakote block’s Janibili in Berhampur at a cost of Rs 431 crore.

The project supplies 300 lakh litres of water on a daily basis through a pipeline network stretching 232 km.