Tiryani mandal reels under drinking water crisis

Dwellers of a few villages are struggling to quench their thirst following pumps and pipelines of Mission Bhagiratha going defunct.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Residents of hilly areas and villages on the forest fringes in Tiryani mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district are reeling under an acute Kumram Bheem Asifabad.

Dwellers of a few villages are struggling to quench their thirst following pumps and pipelines of Mission Bhagiratha going defunct.

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For instance, villagers in the remote Gundala in Tiryani mandal depend on an old well and hand-pump.

The well and hand-pump are the only sources of drinking water for the village and surrounding hamlets. Villagers transport water on bullock carts, facing sweltering heat wave conditions.

Similarly, dwellers of Bheemrala village in this mandal rely on the neighbouring Thoyareti village for drinking water.

Vedma Venkatesh, a social media influencer, who shared a video of tribals fetching water from a spring found in a rock near this village, said: “Aboriginal tribes are still witnessing hardships due to lack of drinking water facility.”

People of Govena, Kolamguda, Bheemgondi, Solarguda and Samathulagundam villages are also left with no option but to extract water from pits dug in local streams, risking their health.

Many other villages situated on hillocks, valleys and edges of the forest in this mandal continue to experience severe drinking water crisis.

The tribals regretted that the crisis was not addressed even after submitting petitions to officials several times.

The dwellers of these villages alleged that the pumps and pipelines belonging to the prestigious Mission Bhagiratha scheme were not properly functioning at regular intervals, affecting the supply of water to the habitations situated in hilly terrains, valleys and forests.

They said that the crunch of funds to maintain the scheme and to pay wages to watermen was hitting the initiative. When asked, Sirpur (U) sub-division deputy executive engineer Khaleel said efforts were being made to avoid the drinking water crisis by working in tandem with various departments.

He admitted the villagers witnessed problems due to snags in pumps a few days ago. He claimed that the water was being supplied to villages at least 2 to 3 hours a day.