http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/No-one-to-quench-Sasarams-thirst/articleshow/6937908.cms
No one to quench Sasaram's thirst
Alok Chamaria, TNN, Nov 17, 2010, 02.31am IST
SASARAM: Acute shortage of drinking water never becomes a poll issue
in Sasaram assembly constituency in Rohtas district even though it is
a major problem here which Dalits and tribals face in Kaimur Hills.
The state government had set up a dozen booths in the Lok Sabha polls
in 2009 in the hills known as the red corridor of the Maoists. The
district administration had sought at least 25 companies of
paramilitary forces to hold free and fair elections at 12 booths in
the 2010 Bihar assembly polls. But after rejection of its request by
the Election Commission, the administration decided to shift the
polling booths to the plains.
The district administration had after a gap of 15 years managed to
hold parliamentary polls in Kaimur Hills. The state government had to
spend over Rs 5 crore to enable 7,000 voters of the area exercise
their franchise. But after that election, the administration did not
bother to provide drinking water in the area.
Lack of drinking water forced about 10,000 inhabitants of 38 villages
of Nauhatta and Rohtas blocks to shift to the plains with their cattle
leaving senior family members back home.
During a recent visit to the hills, mediapersons were shocked when a
tribal, Bhuinya Urawn of Barhamtal village, told them, "Agar aap pani
ki vyavastha nahi kar sakate to goli mar den (if you cannot arrange
for drinking water, please shoot us)." All five ponds and three wells
had dried up.
Other residents, Vijay Urawn and Manoj Urawn, said they have to wait
an entire night for the water level to go up in wells. They manage to
draw barely 10 buckets of water for a thousand villagers. The women
have to carry water on their heads from places seven to eight km away
from their village every day.
A district board member from Nauhatta block, Aruni Kumar, revealed
that due to acute shortage of drinking water in the area, no outsider
wants to marry his daughter.
In 2008, on the direction of the then DIG Shahabad range, A K
Ambedkar, the local police in its survey had identified about 60
villages spread over nine panchayats of Naxal-dominated Nauhatta block
which did not have a drinking water source and villagers quenched
their thirst from natural sources. Similarly, in about 50 villages,
handpumps had gone out of order.
The state government, on the other hand, spends crore of rupees every
year to check Naxal activities. The survey report was sent to Rohtas
district magistrate but to no avail. The survey report revealed that
residential schools at Soli and Nagatoli in Kaimur Hills, do not have
provision for drinking water.
Due to scarcity of drinking water, the mid-day meal scheme has been
suspended in several schools. Inmates of residential schools have to
walk three to four km to fetch water for cooking. Taking a bath is a
luxury under such circumstances.
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