Residents of Chhattisgarh village depend on drain water for drinking

Residents of Kundru village in Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh have to use water from streams and drains for drinking purposes due to the unavailability of other sources of water and said their complaints to the authorities have gone unheeded.

Kundru village is located in Ramchandrapur block and the majority of the 200 residents belong to the Pando Para scheduled tribe. Villagers said the public representatives think of them only during elections. Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. In the past a handpump was installed but that stopped functioning after a while. Many years have passed since then and they have to use dirty water for drinking.

Zila Panchayat CEO Toolika Prajapati said a district level team will be constituted and sent to the village which will conduct a survey and then arrangements will be made for drinking water there. If villagers drink drain water, their health would be affected, Prajapati said.

A villager said that they complained to the panchayat officials but no solution has been found. He said the government functionaries remember them only during elections.

The Kundru sarpanch said officials did not pay heed to the complaints of Pando Para residents.

( With inputs from ANI )