The Octogenarian went on to say, “Elections after elections, we get assurances to get the drinking water crisis solved. The politicians assure us and we vote for them, but everything changes after the polls are over. And, our suffering continues."
Tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks while narrating the villagers’ daily struggle to get a drop of water since decades. "We no longer have faith in the leaders. No one should come to us asking for vote if our issue is not resolved," he said adding that their patience has faded away after protracted denial of the basic right.
On Wednesday, hundreds of villagers, including women, from Nuagoan under Aska block in the district blocked road and demanded immediate steps to resolve their acute water shortage issue.
They alleged that the village is yet to receive piped drinking water facility. The only hand pump in their area hardly functions. While their neighbouring villages have all facilities for potable water, their decades-long demand is yet to be heard, they alleged.
“We are repeatedly approaching the local administration and even the MLA over the issue, but no one is listening to us. The villages around here have water facilities, but we don’t have. We are going to boycott the Panchayat poll if our issue is not resolved beforehand,” said another villager.
She further said the villagers will continue blocking the road if their demand is not met. “We will be forced to resort to violence as the sufferings of children and elderly people for water is getting unbearable,” she warned.
Meanwhile, offiials of the local administration could not be contacted to comment over the allegations brought in by the villagers.
One such example is the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Madhapur under Chandbali block in Bhadrak district where health service has crippled since the last 18 months owing to the absence of even a single doctor.
As per reports, it has been 18 months since the lone Ayush doctor posted at the PHC had died. However, no posting has been made at his place so far. The Madhapur PHC has two doctor posts; one Ayush and the other, an MBBS.
Gopabandhu Barik, a local said, “The healthcare system has come to a standstill here at Madhapur. Despite having two permanent structures to function as a hospital, doctors are still a distant dream at the PHC.”
“Even for a fever, the patients have to depend on Chandbali hospital for treatment,” rued Barik.
Similarly another villager, Sandhyarani said, “It is really unfortunate that 5000 locals of this area cannot get basic healthcare facility. Leave alone the doctor, the PHC does not even have drinking water provision.”
Downplaying the allegations, the Health Worker at the PHC, Amarendra Sahu said, “There are nurses who have been posted here recently. And as far as the doctor is concerned, we have already intimated the CDMO about the vacancy. He will take appropriate steps.”
A similar crisis situation snowballed into a flashpoint at Kushapangi under Banki block of Cuttack district, around 100 km away from Madhupur. The residents of Kushapangi Panchayat have been deprived of drinking water supply since four days owing to power disruption to the local pump house.
The irate locals gheraoed the TPCODL office at Jatamundia near Banki and complained about the issue to the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Damapada.
Gagan Beura, a local resident said, “The electricity department has disconnected power supply to the pump house since four days. When asked, the officials told us that the electricity bill of the pump house has remained unpaid since 2019.”
“The Panchayat office or the Block office should have paid the bill. But the Sarpanch has gone into hiding and he is not picking up calls,” alleged Beura.
However, the BDO, Artabandhu Lenka refuted the allegations of non-payment of bills. “We have already deposited Rs 2 lakh for the electricity bill recently. I cannot say why they disconnected the power supply. It might have been over some older outstanding dues before I took charge.”
Though officials in both cases have tailor-made replies to justify the denial of basic service, the hapless masses continue to suffer.
The move came after the government officials failed to expedite the work on the Sahakata small irrigation project.
Without waiting for help from district administration, the villagers mostly farmers came forward and constructed a 200 metre long canal.
Due to such combined effort, the villagers could bring water to their farm land which had almost dried up and developed cracks due to water scarcity.
“All the farmers of Balipati village joined hands to dig the canal as our crops were getting affected due to water scarcity. We are hopeful of a good yield now as the canal has been connected to our farmland,” said a farmer.
Because of the administration’s apathy towards the demand for the irrigation project, as many as 50 farmers decided to work together for the canal, stated another farmer.
Meanwhile, the administration has lauded the efforts made by farmers and assured to construct a concrete canal soon.
“I congratulate the farmers for digging the canal. If they support us, the administration will make it concrete, said Prabhakar Mohanty, executive engineer of the Khariar Small Irrigation division.
According to sources, the 'Swajaldhara' water project has stopped functioning while the sole tube-well in the village is also lying defunct for the past four months. As a result, the residents here are facing problems due to acute water shortage.
With no other option, the people are forced to consume contaminated water from the village pond, alleged the residents.
Though the local villagers and the Sarpanch had brought the matter to the notice of administration, the officials did not pay any heed to their grievances.
"Our life has become miserable due to water scarcity. If they will not resolve our problem we will continue our protest" said Sasmita Nayak, a local resident.
Meanwhile, the agitating women have submited a memorandum of their demands to the BDO.
"They have submitted a memorandum and I have instructed the Junior Engineer (JE) and Assistant Engineer to resolve the issue at the earliest" said Tangi BDO, Binod Senapati.
Vehicular movement came to a grinding halt between Koraput to Dashmantpur on account of the protest.
As per reports, a drinking water project was launched few months ago to resolve the water scarcity woes afflicting the area.
However, after few days of its commencement, the water project stopped functioning following which the locals had to face acute water scarcity once again.
"Even as we approached the local administration for repair work of the drinking water facility, they didn't pay any heed to our complaints forcing us to hit the streets," a local resident said.
After being informed about the incident, the local Tehsildar and BDO arrived at the spot and assured the protesters to resolve the issue soon. Following the intervention of the administrative officials, the locals withdrew the protest.
Sources said vehicular movement came to a standstill between Nayagarh and Odagaon after a group of women kept their pots and buckets on the road as a mark of protest.
As per the allegations of these women, a contractor engaged in the road construction work here, undertaken by the Works Department, broke the water pipeline channeling water to all households. They alleged the water supply has completely stopped due to the breakage and further complained that even after repeated requests none paid heed to them.
Meanwhile, police and Water Supply Inspector rushed to the spot to pacify the agitating women and later held discussions with them following which they withdrew the road blockade, sources added.
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.
The villagers alleged that despite sanction of money from MP Baijayant Jay Panda's MPLAD fund for construction of bore wells, the work has not been undertaken due to intervention of Jena.
The locals burnt the effigies of Jena and threatened to intensify their protest if the issue is not resolved soon.
"We had staged an agitation on the issue in the same month last year, Rs 2.5 lakh had been sanctioned from MPLAD fund. When we visited various offices including Block office over the issue the officials there said that MLA Pratap Jena has instructed not to take over any work at Harijan Sahi," said an agitating local, Sushant Jena.
Similarly in Deogarh district, women staged dharna in front of Palsama panchayat office today alleging misuse of water. ‘’While piped drinking water facility had been installed in the panchayat two years back, some persons misuse water by installing a water pump at the main pipeline. As a result, many houses in the panchayat do not get piped water,’’ an agitating woman said.
On the other hand, borewells in the panchayat are also not able to provide sufficient water. The women have threatened to lock the panchayat office if the issue is not resolved at the earliest.
An agitating woman, Bharati Behera, said, "We don't have water in our locality, there are no borewells, we have only one pipe which is also not functioning. We have to walk nearly a kilometre to fetch water. We had told the Sarpanch about it but no borewell was provided."
However, Sarpanch Damyanti Pradhan said, "I have joined two months back so I am unaware about the issue. I will try to solve the issues within 2-4 days."
Shouting slogans the protesters demanded immediate supply of drinking water in their locality.
In a similar incident, the residents of Ward-2 and 11 of Belpahar block in Jharsuguda district staged a road blockade on the national highway (NH)-49 protesting scarcity of drinking water in their area. As a result, vehicular traffic on the Raipur-Chandikhol road was disrupted for a while.
Talking to OTV a local alleged, "We have taken to the streets as we have not received any water and electricity since last 72 hours. No one is paying heed to our plight."
The locals withdrew their agitation after police, local administration and officials of electricity department reached the spot and assured them of solution.
Patnagarh Tehsildar, Puspanjali Panda said, "We have a problem with the transformer. A new transformer will be bought immediately which may take some time. We are working to resolve the issues and are able to understand problems faced by people. We have already held a discussion with electricity department and the transformer is being charged as a temporary arrangement. The new transformer will be ready by today evening and we will try to make all arrangements as fast as possible."
Large number of people, including women, blocked the NH and demanded immediate supply of drinking water to all households in the area.
“We have taken up the water scarcity issue with the district administration several times, but to no avail. So we decided to take to the street to press for our demand,” said an agitating woman.
Shops were shut and vehicular traffic was disrupted due to the dawn-to-dusk bandh in the town.
Residents of Rairakhol and civil society groups have lent their support towards the bandh.
The piped water supply project work, which started five years back to bring Mahanadi river water to the town, has been stalled midway.
Meanwhile, women of Ward number-6 in Bolangir as a mark of protest broke earthen pots in front of the Public Health department Executive Engineer’s office in the town.
Bhanwari village under Kalyansinghpur block in the district is a home to 12 families of Niyamgiri Dongria Kondh tribal group. They depend on a single handpump installed in the area but it’s not enough to quench their thirst. They have to walk for over 2 kmts daily to fetch water but only to return with contaminated water.
“I drank the muddy water following which my health got severely affected. People are dying due to diarrhoea after consuming the water,” laments one Dongria.
“We are going to renovate one well in the area and have plans to drill more wells after getting proper site location, following which water problem can be solved," said Kalyansinghpur Block Development Officer Pradeep Nayak.
Similar is the situation of Nuagaon village under Bisamkatak block which has about 100 families. The village has two handpumps but one is lying defunct, resulting in daily quarrel among the women’s to fetch water.
Also Read: Water Scarcity Dogs Capital City
Two years ago, the government had sanctioned Rs 12 lakh worth water projects for four villages in the area. However, the administration is yet to initiate the projects- only to increase the woes of the villagers.
When OTV approached Niranjan Sahu, executive engineer, water supply and sanitation, he said tenders for the projects would be floated at the earliest.
Its April, summer is already harsh; how far inviting tender at this eleventh hour will solve the water shortage issue here is a matter of grave concern.
Such a scene can be evident at Raj Kumar Basti in Satya Nagar of the Smart City. Raising concerns over the issue, a visually-impaired social activist of the Basti, Sanyasa Behera had written a letter to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister Office (PMO) then directed the State government to act on the issue; however, the BMC is yet to take up any step in the area.
“The order of the PMO is not even getting materialized. Who will a common man or a visually impaired person approach with his woes? The celebration of World Water Day can be successful only if the consumption of contaminated water is at least prevented,” said Behera.
Salia Sahi, Manda Sahi and Jadupur (Khandagiri) are some other areas facing water scarcity. Besides, Salia Sahi and Manda Sahi are in grip of Jaundice due to the use of contaminated fresh water.
“Under Amrut Yojana, we have covered all private, government and slum areas in the city. Within one year, water will be accessible to all through stand posts, pipelines and individual water connections,” said BMC Mayor Anant Narayan Jena.
Earlier, BMC had launched water ATM (water vending kiosks) in the city on the eve of local self governance day to ensure sufficient fresh water availability. It had also plans to set up 30 more ATMs and a waste water treatment plant. However, the plans have not yet materialized.
Meanwhile, Urban Town Planner Piyush Ranjan stressed the need to fasten the ongoing construction of waste water treatment plant on priority basis.
“We walk more than two km everyday to fetch water for our daily chores. We get water from wells, which is dirty and contaminated; children are getting sick by drinking the water,” said Rangalata Singh of the sahi.
The village has more than 100 families, mostly tribal. They depend on the unclean water of the wells, consumption of which making them vulnerable to waterborne disease. The villagers claim that they have approached the village Sarpanch and also the local administration with the issue several times, but all in vain.
“The local administration assured us each time we took the issue up, but no step has been taken so far,” another villager Satrughan Biswal laments.
Meanwhile, Udala Block BDO Sutaru Bala said that RWSS should dig tubewell in Jharana sahi. “Besides, the administration has already sanctioned a new tubewell in the village under Gopabandhu Gramin Yojana. The RWSS department will dig the well, following which the issue can be solved soon, Bala added.
Spring-summer comes with many delights in India. Holi - the festival of colours, Baisakhi – the glorious harvest festival in north India, Kaalbaishakhi – squally thunder storms that typically occur in the eastern Gangetic plains of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. Kaalbaisakhi has a very special place in the hearts of Odia poets and writers, describing the astounding of beauty of dark clouds; exquisite emotions matching these beautiful clouds hanging low and promising unrestrained destruction. These unexpected showers are extremely helpful to pre-Kharif crops like jute, paddy and a large number of vegetables and fruits. It gives some much desired relief after mid-day heat and quenches the thirsty soil for development of crops. The Basanti Navaratri, Ram Navami coupled with endless local festivals like ‘Jhamu Jaata’, Danda Naacha and Pana Sankranti herald the Odia new year – not to forget the coming of mangoes - the king of all fruits!!
But summer for many is the harbinger of many woes - drying wells, dried ponds and water bodies, non-yielding hand pumps, defunct tube wells, cracking dry land forming fissures on surface, the drudgery of women walking miles to fetch water, little children hobbling along mothers with pots, women fishing water out of small holes on the earth’s surface, collecting muddy water from shallow streams and hyacinth covered water bodies; limited water supply times in urban areas, water shortage, lack of drinking water, ground water depletion and worst of all the out-break of diarrhea, jaundice and other water borne diseases. Questions in the media, television channels going berserk with visuals of people in distress, hounding politicians, administrators and water engineers; radio channels crying foul, answers sought from district administrations, water supply departments, administrators and politicians. All discussions and debates centre around who is to blame; this government or the previous one?
Coming from a lay person in the field of water management like me, my opinion might not be technically correct but I wish to put forth my understanding of the issue based on commonsense. I must also mention that my essay is based on my experience of interacting with the people, listening to their woes, participating in public discourses with experts, politicians, administrators, practitioners and water campaigners. I have come to realise that discussions around water management should not be limited to only efficient use of existing underground water. This viewpoint of water management espouses a limited understanding of the issue and also unfortunately demonstrates an unsustainable approach to dealing with water scarcity. While ‘save water’ is something that we should continue chant every day, we have to start talking about ‘making water’ even in a water affluent state like Odisha. By this I mean there is a need to aggressively refocus our thoughts around re-charging, rejuvenating and replenishing ground water in our state.
At the surface level, Odisha looks like a water happy state with surplus ground water in many districts. Dependent mostly on monsoons, approximately 80% of the total annual rainfall happens between June and September. Rainfall in the state shows spatial variation, with some parts of the state receiving more rain than other parts making the state vulnerable to both drought and flood situations. An overview of the state water resources shows long term average annual rainfall as 1452 mm, which corresponds to an annual precipitation of 230.76 billion cubic meters of water. A portion of this water goes out in evaporation and transpiration, a portion naturally goes to recharging ground water and a part that goes as surface runoff. Commonsense suggests it is the surface runoff water that we should tap.
Review of good practices on water management shows that small but efficient action can have a long term impact on water availability, especially in water scarce districts in Odisha. This essay suggests some small, tried out actions that have far reaching results. As partners in development, we must focus on doable, practical and high impacting action that can address our concerns. With competing demands on our water resources, it is critical to develop an integrated water management plan at the state level. The plan should assess the demand for water use by sector; agriculture, irrigation, industrial use and domestic requirements. In plain economic terms, this plan should help us calculate how much water we get, how much we use, how much is our requirement and how much is the surplus amount available. This will help the state develop a proper water use plan.
Besides upstream actions, there is also a need to develop local water security plans. In a democracy that emphasizes participation of people, the importance of community participation and responsibility for water use in water scarce areas can hardly be overstated. This essentially presupposes engagement with the people, facilitating development of village water management plan that looks at source protection, including rejuvenation/ recharging, and equitable distribution of water. This requires a paradigm shift in thinking– a move away from water supply mode to joint ownership of water use. Sharing of responsibility among all stakeholders – policy makers, implementers and water users – is a must to tackle water scarcity issues. Preservation, protection and upgradation of traditional water sources like the local springs, chuas and wells has to be undertaken as a statewide strategy for rural areas.There is a need to shun the over-dependence on that one hand pump which suffers many breakdowns due to over-use and look at alternative sources of safe drinking water. This approach will make communities responsible for assessing their own water availability, quality and monitoring of water use. Self-monitoring will also ensure water budgeting and rational use of water. These approaches are process-intensive because they require communication and mobilisation of people, creating awareness among them to take responsibility for their water resources and generating a demand for rational water use.
As a policy maker myself, I see the advantage of having a positive dialogue with civil society organisations, academic institutions and water champions in understanding local issues and arriving at local solutions to problems.The argument that I wish to put forward here is a decentralized approach to development where we see government more as a facilitator than a provider. This is not to suggest that the welfare role of the government should be de-emphasized; it just means that we look upon people as partners in development rather than as recipients of privileges. Water management and watershed initiatives like construction of bunds, tanks, percolation tanks, check dams, plantation and water harvesting structures will obviously remain within the larger domain of the government. Government can also partner with NGOs to implement these projects through local area development plans.
While this would not require an overhaul of the existing structure, a shift in organizational and policy level thinking will have to be introduced. This would require creative reorganization of human resources, a need to introduce multi-disciplinary workers and go beyond a department of just civil engineers. There might be a need for building the capacity of our human resource to reorient them on principles of joint management, ownership and community participation. It is not that Odisha as a state does not have an experience of such partnership initiatives. Initiatives like the Western Odisha Rural Livelihood Projects (WORLP), Odisha Community Tank Management Project (OCTMP) and Pani Panchayat promote many of the principles mentioned here. There is, however, a need to learn from the experiences of these programmes and support the quality implementation of these programmes, which encourage local and context-specific solutions to seemingly large problems.
The writer is the BJD MLA from Junagarh.
According to sources, a team of leadesr from the saffron party, led by party president Basant Panda, met the Governor and informed him about the scarcity of drinking water in a number of districts across the state.
On April 7, BJP had started its ‘Jana Kalyan Yatra’ from Chandahandi area in Nabarangpur district.
The yatra, which is being carried out in 17 organisational districts, aims at informing people about the failure of ruling BJD government.
So far, BJP has covered eight organisational districts under its ‘Jana Kalyan Yatra’.
Opposition members alleged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has no moral rights to hold the post any further as he has failed to provide drinking water to the people despite being in power for 16 years.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said in the House; “At present, 40% people have to traverse more than a mile to collect water as compared to 32% in 2001.”
Mishra further alleged the situation had arisen because of lack of coordination between Urban Development, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj departments.
Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati told media persons, “In every village of the state, people are facing water crisis. While liquor is available in most parts of the State, water has become scarce. Today, members cutting across political parties demanded a solution to the water crisis.”
Besides, Bahinipati demanded a probe into false bill submitted to the government for repair work of tube wells.
Expressing similar views, BJP MLA Rabinarayan Naik said, “The minister accepted that water crisis is prevailing in the State, but sought to paint a rosy picture talking about several plans. He, however, said the department does not have sufficient funds. The way the temperature is rising, water crisis will be grim in the coming days. Apart from this, there are no water facilities for slums being established in urban areas.”
Refuting the charges, BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy said, “The State government has taken steps on a war footing to face the problem. The minister has also accepted the ongoing water crisis in the State. As a measure, water resources will be utilized optimally.”
Meanwhile, Badrinarayan Patra, Rural Development minister, said several works could not progress due to reduction in Central funds for drinking water projects.
Patra told media persons, “The government accepts there is a water crisis. To address the possible situation, 7,500 tube wells were set up and MLAs have been asked to set up 10 tube wells each in their constituency.”
“It is obvious during summer the water level goes down. As a contingency plan, water tankers are being sent to villages by Panchayati Raj department," he added.
The minister stated 4,17,749 tube wells and 12,923 sanitary wells have been set up for 1,57,158 villages and hamlets habitation. Besides, digging of new wells is on as per the requirement, he added.
The campaign, launched on the occasion of the World Water Day, would target more specifically areas where the ground water is over exploited, NABARD officials said.
In Odisha, the formal launching of the campaign was done by Dr K C Panigrahi, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Odisha Regional Office here at a function which was attended among others by Dr S K Ambast, Director, Indian Institute of Water Management, Bhubaneswar.
A similar campaign was undertaken last year covering 40,000 villages in the country. The campaign received encouraging response at field level, they said.
Dr Panigrahi outlined the broader strategy for Water campaign in Odisha and indicated that based on vulnerability assessment report of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), ten most vulnerable/ rainfed/ water scarcity districts in the state - Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Kandhmal, Bolangir, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Nabarangpur, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar - have been identified for the intensive campaign which will cover 5500 villages in the State.
For the purpose one master trainer and 40 local volunteers (Jal Dhoots) will be identified and trained for the campaign in each 10 districts.
The campaign would focus on creating awareness among the rural community about methods of water conservation, preservation and its efficient utilisation at various levels using modern technologies like micro irrigation (more crop per drop), besides traditional water management practices.
Under the campaign, area specific contents covering different water management practices applicable to local conditions for various agro climatic regions with emphasis on community participation is being developed.
According to sources, pipes to supply drinking water were laid at 13 wards in Konark Notified Area Council (NAC) spanning 59 KMs. However, locals alleged that safe drinking water is still a distant dream for them. While some taps have broken down, some churn out muddy and water with a high-iron density.
Locals alleged, "Two stand posts were installed at ward number-3 to provide drinking water to over 500 residents of Sijugoradi and Mulisahi. But, they are of no use as they churn out muddy and water with high-iron concentration."
Similarly, in ward- 1, 2, 9 and 11, scenes of water flowing continuously through the stand posts are rampant. "A large number out of the 260 hand pumps and 72 stand posts installed in the NAC, are defunct," alleged the locals.
“There are only two taps for as many as 1000 residents. These taps are of no use as muddy water comes out of it. Despite our repeated complaints, it has yielded no results,” alleges Ramesh Chandra Swain, resident of Mulisahi.
Echoing the same voice, Lata Rout, a resident of ward number-5 said, “The water can neither be used for cooking, nor for other household stuff. Since last one and half months we are not getting potable water.”
Reacting on the allegations, executive engineer of Nimapara Public Health department Girish Chandra Bala said, "A over-head tank along with four ground reserve tanks have been set up to provide potable water to 13 wards in the NAC."
"As the ground water contains high-salt, it is difficult to provide clean drinking water. To address the crisis, four more new ground reserve tanks will be set up soon," he added.
“Drinking water can’t be accessed from the tube-well all the time. As a result, we are now depending on a pond to meet our daily water requirements,” rued a local, Tapaswini Khadia.
“Despite repeated complaints, no concrete step has been taken yet by the authorities,” alleged another local, Gulthu Suren.
Sources said when the water from the pond dry up, the locals fetch water from a small well built near a farming land.
“Many a times we suffer from various kinds of diseases due to consuming polluted water from open source,” said a local resident Bipra Jauda.
Responding to the allegations, senior district officials informed that the issue will be resolved soon.
“We will conduct an inquiry and if there is any problem, the issue will be addressed,” said Executive Officer of Public Health Department, Manoj Ranjan Nanda.
Scorching heat and drinking water crisis has compounded the miseries of people at Manikpur village under Biramaharajpur block in Sonepur district.
With no proper drinking water provision, people have to depend on ‘chua’ (small pits on dry riverbed) to meet their daily requirements.
“As we don’t have drinking water facilities, we are facing difficulties here. It takes more than two hours to fill a pot from the pit on the riverbed. Even small children have to be engaged to collect water,” said a villager of Manikpur, Gita Jhankar.
Though a water tank was established and pipelines laid to supply drinking water to the village under the Harihar Jor irrigation project, the project has remain non-starter for the last five years.
Another villager Ugrasen Hati said, “Even after five years, the project is yet to be made operational. The officials visit the frequently and leave only after making false promises.”
Executive Engineer of Water and Sanitation Department Bipin Chandra Dash informed, “We had made arrangements to provide water from production well. However, after the villagers did not agree to take water from production well, we have set up intake well in Harihar Jor to supply water. As soon as the electric lines of the well gets charged, the water supply will begin within two weeks.”
According to reports, locals from the Housing Board Colony and BDA Colony areas of Chandrasekharpur blocked the road by placing uprooted trees at around 11 AM today demanding restoration of drinking water & electricity supply.
The irate locals alleged that the local engineers have been giving them false assurances of restoring water and electricity.
Later, the angry locals called-off their agitation after the Chandrasekharpur Police intervened and promised them to look into their issues.
The residents of Bhubaneswar have been facing acute water scarcity following massive damages to power infrastructure during cyclone Fani.
"Even though this is the right time to sow seeds on the field, we are yet to begin agricultural activity as there is no water and rain. We are yet to get crop seeds from the government. We don't even know who is the Village Level Worker (VLW)," Sudhakar Kanha, a farmer.
Another farmer, Nabarati Kanha, said, "As cultivation is the only way to earn our livelihood, we are worried about the outcome this year. While there is no rain at all, the heatwave condition continues to prevail. There may be drought in our district this year."
According to reports, Kharif crops are harvested in 1.27 lakh hectares of land in the district every year. The preparation for sowing the seeds had reached its final stage, however, it was hampered following water scarcity.
Deputy director of the Agriculture and Irrigation Department of the district, Pradeep Kumar Rath, said that there will be good rain in the district in the coming days."Crops will be distributed to the farmers through Large Area Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (LAMPS)," said Rath.
With Chennai and several other places in Tamil Nadu facing an acute water shortage, the DMK is holding protests to press the state government to take necessary action to mitigate the people's suffering.
While Cholavaram (full capacity 1,081 mcft) and Redhills (full capacity 3,300 mcft) reservoirs that supply water to Chennai have run dry, there is only 1 mcft of water left in Chembarambakkam lake (against a full capacity of 3,645 mcft) and 21 mcft water left in Poondi reservoir (against a full capacity of 3,231 mcft), according to the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
The ground water levels too have gone down owing to lack of rains.
The farming community has alleged that, though it is monsoon, the peak time for agriculture, they are yet to begin the agrarian works as there is no water in their fields.
Hundreds of farmers in Dengsarangi and Gandamunda areas of the district have claimed that peasants residing in the low-lying areas are deprived of water for farming as adequate water has not been released from the Hirakud Dam.
On top of that, they said, inadequate rainfall during the ongoing monsoon is piling troubles on their woes.
“The Hirakud Dam authorities released less amount of water last month despite getting a good inflow due to rain on the upstream. However, we are not getting enough water for ploughing the fields as the linking canal which has a capacity to contain 119 cusecs of water is only having around 20-30 cusecs of water,” alleged the president of a local farmers’ body.
The farmers have threatened to intensify their protests by blocking water supply to Hindalco Industries if their issues are not resolved soon.
“We tried to apprise the district Irrigation authorities on our problems, however we could not put forward our issues. If they don’t release water to improve agricultural conditions in the area soon, we will gherao the Irrigation Department office and block water supply to Hindalco,” he threatened.
As per official sources, a hill watershed project in Durgapur hill has been taken up at a cost of Rs 4 crore to address the water scarcity problem which has been a perennial problem for nearly four lakh residents of the city. Around one lakh saplings will be planted in the hill under the project to conserve rain water. Besides, staggered trenches, small pits, check dams and stone bund have been made for the purpose.
"The hill has become almost treeless. We will plant trees and carryout other water conservation initiatives which will help to increase the ground water level. Thus, we expect that the tube wells and dug wells not dry up during summer season," said Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF), Rourkela, Dilip Sahu.
"We have already started plantation of samplings and soil moisture conservation. We hope to complete the project within two years," informed Rourkela DFO, Sanjay Kumar Swain.
With the completion of the project, it is expected that the water shortage situation is likely to ease to a great extent. Besides, it will increase the ground water level by two metres and bring down the day temperature by at least two degree Celsius in Rourkela.
"From nature, we get everything including rains and it is our responsibility to protect everything that we get from it. Everyone especially the students should be made aware about the importance of water conservation. I think the initiative of the forest officials will help in increasing the ground water level," said environmentalist, Motilal Das.
The port authorities today announced that supplied water will be provided to the town residents once a day from today onwards. The decision on water supply restriction has been taken keeping in view the decrease in water level of the reservoir. The officials have informed that the check on the water supply will continue until the water level replenishes.
In this connection, an awareness was also created among the residents on ‘save water’ campaign.
Usually, water from the Taladanda Canal is refined and supplied to the residents of the township. But due to decline in water level the residents are facing water shortage.
Indiscriminate use of water by industries and expansion of Paradip township and its suburbs has caused decrease in ground water level as well.
Recently, the Union government informed that Odisha’s first 10 million litre per day (MLD) de-salination plant to make sea water potable will soon come up in the port town.
The plant will be set up by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai to address the industrial and drinking water needs of the town.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between NIOT and Paradip Port Trust (PPT) on July 15.
Four Executive Engineers of Water Resources department of the State government reportedly visited Aul and Rajkanika blocks of the districts to take stock of the situation. They measured the water level of different water bodies including river, canal and farmlands.
The officials also met the local farmers and held discussion with them over the matter.
"Kendrapara district has been identified as a region facing highest water scarcity in Odisha, however, we have already started the initiative to make it one of the most abundant in water resources," informed Jugal Kishore Tripathy, Executive Engineer.
Sources informed that extensive awareness drive will also be launched to educate people on rainwater harvesting and other water conservation measures.
At least three villages under tribal-dominated Mahisapatta Gram Panchayat under Nilagiri block in Balasore district alleged that the drinking water project isn't functioning because of the non-payment of water dues by the Sarpanch. There are three tube wells in Salabani village, but water in none of those is allegedly suitable for drinking. Similarly in other villages people could be seen making queues as early as 3AM in the morning to get some water.
Sources said keeping in view the rapidly depleting water resources; the government had implemented Basudha Scheme in the locality in 2006-07. The sharing of the water bill was decided to be in 3:1 ratio, with 3 parts to be paid by the Panchayat and one by the villagers. But the villagers of Salabani, Rajasahi and Kuanali alleged that the Sarpanch never paid the bill effectively forcing the closure of the project.
Saraswati Singh, a local standing in queue for water said, "We have been paying our share of water dues every month, but don't get any benefit from it. We have to wait for hours in front of tube well to get some water."
Speaking to OTV, the Sub-Collector of Nilagiri, Harish Chandra Jena said, "I will talk to the NESCO authorities and the RWSS officials about this. We will sort out the problem if there is any."
Similarly, Gopalpur village under Ghasipura block in Keonjhar district is reeling under the drinking water woes as well. There is a single tube well for a village of 30 families and the water from that tube well is too polluted to drink, alleged villagers.
Jayanti Majhi, a local of Gopalpur said, "We don't get clean drinking water here. The only tube well discharges polluted water, so we have to bring water from a pond far away."
Komana block in Nuapada district is grappling with scarcity of water as well. The lone tube well in Poinar village is running dry. There is an overhead water tank constructed in the village, but that's of no use as villagers alleged that the tank remains empty all the time.
Reports of drinking water came from Pandua village under Kamakhyanagar block of Dhenkanal district as well, where more than 200 families of Harijan Sahi are suffering. The drinking water project completed five years ago by spending lakhs of Rupees is lying defunct. There are three tube wells in the area but not even one of them works, it is alleged.
Laxmi Nayak, a local of Pandua alleged, "Tube wells aren't working. Two solar drinking water projects in the village are not functioning as well."
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An instant lottery system is played out every day to decide who gets the quota first. Reason: water comes for only 30-45 minutes in a day to quench the thirst of hundreds of men, women and children in the sprawling colony.
As per reports, wisdom prevailed among residents following daily squabbles and fights between women to grab ground in order to fill buckets during the short period when water comes. Elders finally came out with the solution: instant lottery.
Though the idea helped in reducing the rush and feuds, the dry days still continue to haunt as water supply has become scarce and infrequent in the last couple of years.
“We resorted to a lottery system because of the regular disputes amongst us. This way we at least get a serial number and accordingly fetch water peacefully. However, only the first three winners get a chance to collect water while others in the queue have to return with empty bucket as the supply stops,” said a woman resident.
"We ran from pillar to post for piped water connection in our locality, but got nothing except false assurances,” she added.
Locals alleged that they had appraised the NAC executive officer, JE and Councillors on many occasions about the appalling water scarcity in their locality. “They are least bothered,” they said.
Another resident, while highlighting the urgency of the crisis, said, “We can’t even provide a glass of water to passersby as we have to buy water from the market for our daily needs.”
She said while other colonies in the vicinity have been provided with adequate water supply, the administration has turned a dry eye towards them.
“Are we not citizens of the State, are we not human beings,” another resident asked.
The residents said that an open well and a bore-well in the colony were functional earlier. “But now those are in dilapidated condition and not enough to address the needs of all the families,” a resident said adding, “This has left us to depend on the solitary stand-post which again is not enough for us.”
According to a new UNICEF report, children in more than 80 countries live in areas with high or extremely high water vulnerability, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Eastern and southern Africa has the highest proportion of children living in such areas, with more than half of children (58 per cent) facing difficulty accessing sufficient water every day. It is followed by West and Central Africa (31 per cent), South Asia (25 per cent), and the Middle East (23 per cent).
South Asia is home to the largest number of children -- more than 155 million -- living in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability.
The report identified 37 "hot-spot" countries where children face especially dire circumstances in terms of absolute numbers, the proportions of children affected, and where global resources, support and urgent action must be mobilized. This list includes Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania and Yemen.
"The world's water crisis is not simply coming, it is here, and climate change will only make it worse," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore in a press release. "Children are the biggest victims. When wells dry up, children are the ones missing school to fetch water. When droughts diminish food supplies, children suffer from malnutrition and stunting. When floods hit, children fall ill from waterborne illnesses. And when water resources decline, children cannot wash their hands to fight off diseases."
The new report is part of UNICEF's "Water Security for All" initiative to ensure every child has access to sustainable and climate-resilient water services. The initiative aims to mobilize resources, partnerships, innovation and global response to identified hot spots.
"We have to act now both to address the water crisis and to prevent it from getting any worse," said Fore. "We can only achieve water security for every child through innovation, investment and collaboration, and by ensuring services are sustainable and resilient to climate shocks. For our children and our planet, we have to act."
Bottled water has become a major source of plastic waste choking our sewerage, our lakes, rivers and even ponds in villages. Around 1.6 litres of water, fuel and other resources are needed to get 1 litre of bottled water. Due to the temperature rise in Bay of Bengal and the resulting extreme weather conditions, the freshwater resources in Odisha are under severe strain.
In Odisha, the groundwater extraction has increased from 30% to 42% in four years - between 2013 and 2017. There is a massive increase in annual groundwater extraction but there is a reduction in annual groundwater recharge and considerable depletion in the annual extractable groundwater resources. What can the government do if we the citizens don’t care and are foolishly callous? The government has issued guidelines for all condominium complexes, individual households, commercial establishments, hotels and malls to implement rainwater harvesting scheme. But we need an enforcement agency to check on us, penalise us and then we become activists, doing our best to stop the regulatory drive. There is a study which confirms that groundwater depletion alone contributes about 0.8millimeter per year to the swelling of ocean levels. Simply put this amount to about 25% of the total rise of the oceans. Odisha is sitting on climate emergency and our response is ‘suicidal’. The groundwater loss triggers a rush of seawater into aquifers and this exacerbates freshwater shortage and water pollution. This ingression is directly affecting rural livelihoods. Loss in rural livelihoods will put strain on cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Puri, Sambalpur, Balasore.
The state population is 4.37 Crore. In the next 15 years, it is expected that over 17 percent of the population would be in cities (or city-bound), out of which Bhubaneswar is estimated to attract over 80 per cent of this migration. The city is already bursting at its seams now. By 2030, Bhubaneswar would house the stakeholders of the great India growth story because it will be the capital of the capital. Odisha, the projected steel & metals capital of India would be the principal provider to India’s targeted 300mt steel capacity by 2030. Due to Odisha’s bountiful resources, all the world trade houses would flock to Bhubaneswar. India launched the Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019 with a budgetary allocation of 3.6 lakh Cr. Under this scheme, about 191 million households need to be connected to piped water. In the past, we have failed targets to provide piped water to rural households. Because we depend on groundwater for all water uses and we are still grappling to understand from where do we get water for the piped water supply schemes.
In Odisha 1385 villages have 100% households with tap connections under the Har Ghar Jal initiative. This was started in 2017 with the objective of ensuring safe drinking water to all rural households. It is important to mention here that due to MGNREGA there has been an increase in groundwater recharge, soil fertility and water storage in tanks and ponds. Water infrastructure has been created with the help of MGNREGA. This needs to be sustained. More work in this has to be created.
Bhubaneswar would soon become a semi-critical zone in groundwater. Groundwater extraction has exceeded 65% and with its ever-burgeoning population of well over 1.4 million will soon cross 70% usage and become a semi-critical zone. The increase in population, the cancerous growth in concretisation and the constant destruction of Bhubaneswar is on every moment. Many like me have watched the beautiful city of Bhubaneswar turning grotesque every year. There is no meeting ground between the policymakers and the civil society. There is no civil society for that matter which is actively taking up the issue which if not tackled now, would paralyse the city someday in the near future.
The vicious concretisation ( based on money-spinning racketeering) leads to an unimaginable rise in temperature which leads to prolonged dry spells and extreme precipitation events. This is accentuated by massive deforestation. To top it all, our mindless use of water for domestic and commercial purpose has brought us to the brink of disaster. Going by the various studies on the subject, the groundwater level in the greater Bhubaneswar area (Bhubaneswar city and outskirts/peripheries) has shrunk by about 10 metres and more, since 2006. Now since the outskirts are no more out of the city limits and apartments are sprouting every day, the groundwater is mercilessly sucked out and consumed. If this situation goes unabated, by 2025, Bhubaneswar would face severe water crisis and as a result, the low-income areas, which can’t afford to buy water would experience tumultuous life. Daily life would be a struggle for water, long queues for water would bring in disruptions in peaceful life of Bhubaneswar. Laying pipes to regularised slums is one part of the problem. The bigger problem is having these taps deliver water.
Bhubaneswar requires about 435 million litres per day (MLD) at the rate of 175 litres per person per day. The groundwater can meet up to 125 MLD maximum. In the last ten years, Bhubaneswar’s water consumption has gone more than twice. This is dangerous. The health department should run a door-to-door campaign on ‘moderate water usage’. This should be supported by all the citizen associations of Bhubaneswar. Similarly, the other cities of Odisha should immediately start their drives. Boring for water has to be banned with no loopholes to flout the penalties. People consume water mindlessly, arrogantly and ignorantly. Behaviour change interventions have to be taken up under public health division in collaboration with Smart City, Housing & Urban Development and Water Resources. No one has the right to rob the most precious resource we have. Human activity has disrupted the ecosystem and the land development (in all places across Odisha and not only Bhubaneswar) is continuously removing the vegetation cover. This affects water quality and flood control, majorly. We have enough to learn from cities like New York and Los Angeles. They have implemented a watershed protection program. This typically leverages the ecosystem services of the forests (because they have maintained forest) to keep the water clean. They have avoided building costly water filtration facilities. In Odisha is won’t be difficult to nurture watershed farmers. They would then be entrusted with building water recharge and harvesting units across cities and towns.
[caption id="attachment_529777" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Water crisis[/caption]
Revitalisation of rivers will reduce the city’s reliance on imported water (tanker supplies) for groundwater recharge & consumption. Revitalizing Daya river, Kathajodi and Mahanadi need urgent action. The ultimate idea is to bring community participation and betterment to the river’s revitalization plan. Otherwise, it would again give rise to another public program which has very limited life. The citizens have to get involved. Besides providing freshwater, this intervention can restore the rivers’ ecosystem including water quality control, flood mitigation and recreational/park or waterside auditorium benefits.
This is the story of Odisha and not Bhubaneswar alone. State water security can be increased through demand management. This is the better use of existing water supplies and not only planning for increased supply. Demand management promotes water conservation, during times of both normal conditions and uncertainty, through changes in practices, cultures and people’s attitude towards water resources. If people do not realise and change their perspectives, water crisis could spawn mass indigence of a kind where entitlements and non-entitlements would resort to bitter struggles, with lasting detrimental impact. Because besides habitations, agriculture which feeds us demands water.
(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
(Charudutta Panigrahi is a polymath. Author, community worker, TED speaker, public intellectual & policy influencer. He can be reached at charu.panigrahi@gmail.com)
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