Women stage dharna for water

Thotapalli (Vizianagaram): A large number of women staged dharna for drinking water with empty pots and vessels at Thotapalli village of Garugubilli mandal on Friday. The people of Thotapalli reservoir project and its surrounding villages are facing drinking water problem as tube wells, open wells and borewells dried up as the irrigation department stopped flow of water in left canal for laying concrete lining.

As a result, the ground water level is drastically come down and all the water resources dried up. People are hardly getting water from tube wells and the cattle is also struggling for drinking water. On Friday, they stopped the traffic between Kurupam and Parvathipuram and demanded the officials to take necessary action on this serious issue.

They said releasing of water into left canal is the best remedy for water scarcity and all borewells, tubewells and water tanks would be recharged with increasing groundwater levels. They stopped busses and other vehicles for some time and later demanded the rural water supply department to look into the issue.

T Sarala, a woman of the village, said the borewells in the village are dried up and they are facing a lot of trouble to get water to drink and to take bath. Engineers and panchayat Raj staff rushed to the village and undertaken the repair works of borewells which are in unused condition to address the water woes.