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Utnoor tribals face severe water woes
Tribals in the Utnoor Agency area are set to face hardship for securing water with hot summer fast approaching. With the district recording one of the hottest temperatures in the State, availability of  the precious liquid is becoming scarce with each passing day. Â
​Utnoor: Tribals in the Utnoor Agency area are set to face hardship for securing water with hot summer fast approaching. With the district recording one of the hottest temperatures in the State, availability of the precious liquid is becoming scarce with each passing day.
Hot days just a month away, officials, by their unpreparedness to meet the situation arising out of the feared water shortage, are yet to come out of their deep slumber. A study of the water situation in Utnoor by The Hans India shows that Adivasis are unlikely to escape water feuds this year also. It is usual for the Agency areas to experience severe water shortage. Already some villages are experiencing water problems.
There have been many instances in the past of villagers dying of ailments, including viral fevers, after consuming water from streams and agricultural wells. Although the State government has been allocating crores of rupees every year for drinking water, officials failed to utilise them fully. Even though water scarcity has hit the agency areas, officials are yet to wake up to the situation. There have been no concrete efforts by them to act on time in tiding over the situation.
Their indifference can be gauged from the fact that, following death of tribals in 2008 after drinking polluted water, the administration set up mineral water plants in Utnoor, Jainoor, Sirpur-U, Narnoor, Indravelli mandals, each costing Rs.14 lakh, in coordination with the Mahila Samkhya and ITDA.
The aim was to supply 20 litres at Rs.3 for each house within a radius of three to five km. the plants were shut allegedly because of either negligence of officials or lack of supervision.
Although the YS Rajasekhara Reddy govenment launched a water grid project costing Rs.78 crore, it is yet to be completed and works are still going on. On the other hand, more than half of the RWS schemes in the in the Agency areas have become dysfunctional.
Similar is the fate of hand pumps and bore wells in villages. In some villages water tanks have been left incomplete because of lack of power supply.
In such a gloomy scenario, villages are skeptical that if the officials fail to react promptly to the water shortage, deaths due to drinking of contaminated water could recur.
By: Madavi Manik Rao
