With JJM still elusive, this Nagaon village walks miles for unsafe water
Residents trek long distances for water, citing failed infrastructure & health risks from contaminated sources;
Villagers fetching water from irrigation canals
Raha, April 8: Even as the government continues to highlight rural development under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the grim reality in Amtala village, located along the Raha-Kampur road, paints a starkly different picture.
Home to over 400 families, mostly dependent on agriculture, the village is in the grip of an acute drinking water crisis.
With summer setting in, residents, especially women and the elderly, are trekking long distances daily to fetch water from unsafe sources such as irrigation canals and the Kapili river.
“We are facing drinking water problems for a long time. Safe drinking water remains a distant dream for us. We walk long distances every day to collect water from an irrigation canal near our village. Sometimes, we collect water for drinking, bathing or other purposes from the Kapili river flowing by our village,” said Hemakanti Devi, a 61-year-old resident.
Another villager, Sushila Das, 47, said, “Villagers collect water from agriculture wells as there is no water supply under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme. Many water taps under the mission in the village are not functioning while some are defunct, forcing the villagers to depend on the Kapili river and the irrigation canal. Many people of our village fell sick of various stomach-related diseases due to the use of contaminated water from these sources.”
Despite having tube wells installed in some households, falling groundwater tables have rendered them unusable. “We have no option but to trek to the irrigation canal to fetch a few pots of drinking water,” villagers said, univocally.
A 70-year-old resident lamented, “There is no end in sight to our water problems. We appealed to officials and our local MLA, Sashikanta Das, many times to ensure water is supplied through the JJM taps, but nothing has changed.”
The villagers have now urged the Raha sub-divisional authorities to step in and address the crisis. “This is a dire situation affecting our daily lives and hygiene. We request the authority to act swiftly and address this issue before it worsens further,” said one of the villagers, expressing the growing frustration shared across Amtala.
As the taps run dry and the river remains the only option, the people of Amtala wait in hope - for action, for access, and for a future where safe drinking water is not a luxury.
