Women protest water scarcity, allege government apathy in Bolangir

Bolangir: At a time when several parts of Odisha are witnessing flood fury, the residents of Western Odisha are still facing water crisis. Perturbed over acute water scarcity even in rainy season, the residents of Hatisalpada here took to streets today as a mark of protest against administrative apathy.

Scores of women staged road blockade in front of civil court by putting earthen pitchers on the road, as a result of which traffic on Bolangir-Patnagarh road came to a grinding halt.

Locals alleged that they were forced to stage the demonstration as no step was taken by the authorities to restore drinking water supply that was stopped for the past one month. They had also submitted a memorandum to the Additional District Magistrate for resolving such basic amenity, but no step was taken in this regard.

"We are not getting water for the last 28 days. We had even gone to the Collector's residence but he told us to meet at his office. But since he was not available in his office we submitted our memorandum to the ADM and asked him to call the PHD department in front of us. Our demands included immediate supply of water and temporary arrangement of two tankers in the affected areas till the problem is resolved permanently,” said an agitating woman.

The locals further claimed that despite ADM instructing the PHD officials the problem of round the clock water supply has not been fulfilled.