Assam: Barangabari residents struggle for potable drinking water

Assam: Barangabari residents struggle for potable drinking water

Still dependent on rivulets and puddles of muddy water for daily use

Generations of families have been affected by water-borne diseases

Udalguri, June 10 (HS): Residents of Barangabari village near Ghagra, 25 kms from Udalguri district headquarter, Udalguri along the Indo-Bhutan are in Assam still dependent on rivulets and puddles of muddy water for daily use. Inevitably, generations of families across these villages have been affected by water-borne diseases like dysentery, cholera, diarrhoea, and more.

On a visit to the village on Sunday, Hindusthan Samachar correspondent witnessed as how the young and old alike holding their water drums and vessels came out in large number and expressed their resentment against their MLA who is none other than PHE minister, Rihon Daimari himself.

Reportedly the village under Bhairabkunda BTC constituency and Udalguri LAC was allotted a drinking water supply project which unfortunately doesn’t suffice to the need of the 110 families and dispenses water only for a couple of hours that to after one pays a monthly rent of Rs. 30.

Owing to such disadvantages for the agrarian villagers they are only left to collect water from the rivulet which flows from Bhutan passing through the village. The villagers who barely make a living as farmers and daily wage workers doesn’t meet their day’s end not to speak of paying monthly rent for water.

“We have been deprived of clean drinking water for years and we don’t have any option but to collect water from ponds, puddles or rivulet,” says 34 year old Tankeswar Deka a resident of the village.

“We have raised the issue with the MLA from Udalguri LAC, State PHE Minister, Rihon Daimari a number of times, and he keeps assuring us every elections, but no steps were taken to resolve the drinking water crisis in our villages,” he adds.

“It is quite absurd that we have to suffer lack of basic facilities like clean drinking water in this era of technological advancements,” said 40 year old housemaker and mother of four Runu Baruah.

She further said diseases like diarrhoea, stomach-disorder, skin ailments are quite common in villages suffering from the water crisis.

“Year after year, people have been living like this. They have apparently acclimatised with the situation,” she said.

Another housemaker Sunburbala Deka (45) also echoed the same views and said, “We don’t think our condition is going to change. We don’t even hope anymore.”