Rohit Kashyap, Mungeli. In the scorching heat, the people of Batha village of Lormi development block are facing a severe water crisis. Barring a couple of dozen government hand pumps in the village, almost all the hand pumps are either closed or are useless due to falling water level. The specialty of the village is that it is the home village of MLA Dharamjit Singh, from where he votes in every election. Read this also: NIA filed chargesheet against 3 Maoists in special court of Jagdalpur, know the whole matter…
All the hand pumps in village Batha, which has a population of about 2200, are either not working or the water level has gone down. This is the reason that people have to struggle for drinking water every day. This is not what we are saying but the villagers. If the villagers are to be believed, the problem of low voltage is proving to be a curse. Due to this, the bore motor pump is not working, while the coolers and fans are proving to be showpieces.
People are in a bad condition due to the scorching heat. Not only this, the summer crops have been badly affected due to the voltage problem. Water was not available on time. Apart from this, complaints were made about some government hand pumps being used by private individuals by installing motor pumps, whereas government hand pumps should be installed by the government, so that its public use can be made easy.
This village is the home village of MLA Dharamjit Singh
Chhabi Chandranath Dubey, Girdharlal Dixit, Deepak Pathak and other local residents say that they have to struggle a lot for drinking water, let alone disposal of garbage, that too when this village is the home village of MLA Dharmjeet Singh. Even though MLA Dharmjeet Singh is currently the MLA of Takhatpur, he is still a voter of Batha, he has voted here in the recent Lok Sabha elections as well.
Jal Jeevan Mission is also in a bad condition
Shriram Kashyap, Ramnath Kashyap and Ranjan Kashyap, who live in the village, say that they had hoped that water supply to every house through Jal Jeevan Mission scheme would provide them relief from water crisis, but the villagers said that the condition of Jal Jeevan Mission is also very bad. Water tanks have been built a year ago. Water was filled and checked once or twice, in which seepage was found. If the villagers are to be believed, connection has been provided to half the houses in the village. But connection has not been provided to the other half, and the work has been stalled for a long time.
haphazard drainage construction
In such a situation, expecting water supply from this scheme is proving futile. Apart from the construction work being carried out in a haphazard manner, the villagers have raised questions on the quality of the material being used in the construction work and have demanded an inquiry and action against the culprits. A pit was dug in the middle of the village to lay the connection, which some people have filled by spending their own money, while even today pits remain in many places.