By SWAPNANEEL BHATTACHARJEE

Silchar, Oct 5: Residents of a large number of villages of Karimganj South Assembly constituency in Karimganj district have appealed to PHED minister Rihon Daimary for necessary measures to resolve the crisis of potable water in the villages.

Karimganj South constituency is one of the five Assembly constituencies in Karimganj district. Crisis of pure drinking water has been a major problem across the constituency for many years.

Water plant in sordid state

According to residents, a water supply plant at Kayasthagram, on which many villages are dependent for drinking water, has been in a sorry state of affairs for the past many months. The plant is in a working condition, but water cannot be supplied because of problems like damaged pipes, blockage in pipes and other technical issues, they said.

Kayasthagram falls under Farampasha gaon panchayat, around 74km from Silchar. The water supply plant used to provide water to around 10-15 villages, including Kayasthagram, Palpara, Ajampara, Balidighirpar and Singaria (Part-I) among others. The population of the villages is about 12,000.

Water source: ponds and drains

The residents alleged though they had brought the matter to the notice of the authorities concerned many times in the past, no step was taken to resolve the crisis. “People have to get water from ponds, rivers or even drains. As such, they often suffer from diseases like diarrhoea and stomach ache. It is very shameful that we are even not getting basic facilities like drinking water whereas the country aims to become one of the most prosperous nations across the globe,” a resident said.

Another resident alleged that there is no committee to run the water supply plant for which it has been in a deplorable condition. A committee, which was formed illegally, is running the plant according to their whims and fancies, he said. He suspected that funds sanctioned for maintenance and work related to the plant had been siphoned off.

Plea to minister

The residents further appealed to PHED minister Rihon Daimary so that the water supply plant is made properly functional and the problem of water crisis is solved.

It may be mentioned that a large number of women, carrying empty utensils, blocked National Highway 8 (Assam-Tripura road) at Kayasthagram near the water supply plant on Sunday afternoon demanding normalcy in water supply. The irate women, who locked the gate of the water supply plant after reaching the spot, said though they had been suffering because of the water crisis for many months, the water supply plant’s workers are totally oblivious to their plight and did not take any initiative to restore water supply. They took a jibe at Karimganj South MLA Aziz Ahmed Khan saying though they had approached the MLA many times in this regard, he did not pay any heed to them.

They demanded that necessary steps should be taken to restore water supply at the earliest and threatened to stage a massive democratic movement if their demand is not fulfilled soon.

Defunct project

Sharing his reaction, the general secretary of Model NGO and a resident of Nilambazar, Karimganj Farouk Ahmed, told NewsFileOnline on Monday that a mega project, aimed at providing potable water to a huge number of villages, was about to be implemented at the same water supply plant (Kayasthagram water supply plant) around seven years ago, but no work has been done till date. The foundation stone of the project was laid by then PHED minister Gautam Roy in the presence of former Congress minister Siddeque Ahmed and Lalit Mohan Suklabaidya, who was the MP of Karimganj at that time. However, there has absolutely been no work done after that, he said. He also sought a high-level inquiry into the matter.

On being contacted, Tapash Roy, junior engineer, PHED and the in-charge of the water supply plant at Kayasthagram, said a few machineries, which were in a poor condition, have been replaced for restoration of water supply. Some other necessary work is being done, he said. He hoped the problem of water crisis would be resolved soon.