Villages in Purulia continue to reel under water shortage, complaints go unheard

By Joymala Bagchi
Purulia (West Bengal) [India], March 18 (ANI): Water scarcity is a regular problem in villages of Purulia district of West Bengal namely Chayanpur, Lalbazar, Mohoda, Jolduar Golamara, and Bagra.
They are facing an acute water shortage as most of the tubewells and taps are not working for several months.
Chayanpur, a village with a population of about 700 to 800 families depends on three tubewells for their daily needs. The village had seven tubewells of which only four are in working condition. Complaints made at the local administrative level did not help them to resolve their problem.
A resident of this village, Ismail Ansari (33) told ANI, "Out of seven tubewells only four are functioning. This entire village and the nearby ones are dependent on these four. Several complaints to the local administration did not bear us any result."
Owing to the small number of tubewells, families fights among themselves and at times it leads to serious consequences.
Villagers also said that with approaching summer they are sure that out of four, a few will stop functioning. When asked why, they said this is a regular affair each year.
A resident of Mohoda village Arun said, "Due to water crisis we are often forced to skip baths during extreme summers. As an alternative, we also take bath in muddy water."
Along with water scarcity, unemployment is also another issue which the western-most district of West Bengal is reeling under.
The villagers mostly men either go to other districts or the state's capital Kolkata in search of livelihood.
Ashok, a 32-year-old with a family of mother, wife, and two children staying in Bagra said "I am unemployed and have no regular means of earning yet cannot see my family slipping into acute poverty. I went to Burdwan city and worked there as a mason worker."
The situation is largely the same for many here throughout the district.
Villagers of Lalbazar complained of extremely bad roads and indifference of the local administration.
"We have made complains, wrote a letter, asked the local leadership here but all fell on deaf ears. No initiative was taken to help us out," said a villager on the condition of anonymity.
Villagers of Chayanpur, Mohoda, Bagra told ANI about receiving comparatively less Indira Awaas Yojana units (currently known as Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana.)
In the 2016 assembly election Congress had won the Purulia and Baghmundi constituencies.
Sudip Kumar Mukherjee who joined BJP after resigning from Congress will be contesting against Congress's Partha Pratim Banerjee. Sujoy Bandyopadhyay will be contesting from Trinamool.
The sitting MP from Purulia Jyotirmay Singh Mahato belongs to the Bharatiya Janata party.
As per data available from the provisional reports of Census India, the population of Purulia in 2011 is 121,067. In the education field, the total number of literates in Purulia city is 89,000.
The total number of slums in Purulia city is 9,205 in which population of 50,071 resides which is around 41.36 per cent of a total population of Purulia city.
The first phase of polling will be held in five districts and 30 assembly seats that include Purulia, West Midnapore Part I, Bankura Part I, East Midnapore Part I, and Jhargram.
Elections to the 294-member assembly will be held from March 27 to April 29. Results will be declared on May 2. (ANI)