Dialogue partner, Morwa. The Chief Minister's ambitious Har Ghar Nal-Jal scheme has completely derailed in Indravara Panchayat of the block area. Due to lack of tap water in most of the wards of the Panchayat, the villagers are facing severe drinking water crisis. There is increasing anger among the people due to stagnation of water supply, but till now no concrete initiative has been taken towards solving the problem.
Villagers say that after the launch of the tap water scheme, the use of hand pumps almost stopped and people became completely dependent on this scheme. Now, due to water being cut off, it has become their compulsion to transport water from far away places. Due to this, women, children and the elderly are facing the most problems.
Chief representative Dharmendra Kumar said that the tap water scheme has come to a standstill in most of the wards of the Panchayat. At many places, there is leakage due to bursting of pipes, while in many wards water supply has been stopped for months due to burning of motor. He said that the situation is normal in ward numbers one and two, while in ward three and four the supply is disrupted due to pipe leakage at many places.
In Ward 7, water has been completely shut off due to motor failure for about six months. The motor in Ward 12 has been lying broken for almost a year. Apart from this, the scheme is also affected due to pipe leakage in Wards 13, 14 and 15. Several written and verbal complaints were made regarding the problem to the departmental officers, toll free number and concerned officials including the junior engineer of Morwa PHED, but till now no concrete action has been taken.
Due to the apathy of the officials, the people of the Panchayat are facing a huge crisis for drinking water. The villagers have sought the intervention of the Block Development Officer, District Magistrate and MLA to immediately repair the tap water scheme and ensure a permanent solution.