Sambalpur: City people are desperate for drinking water

Some get a drop of water, while others receive none at all.

After Sambalpur became a metropolitan city, people’s expectations for better services increased. People also dreamed of the improvement of the city. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited Sambalpur and inaugurated the IIM Campus and Samlei Project. But the arbitrary actions of some authorities and staff in Sambalpur, where the Chief Minister and Prime Minister are the mainstays, have caused unrest among the people. As the need for drinking water for survival is high, the arbitrariness of the authorities and staff working in the PHD department in Sambalpur is particularly exposed. Even on the banks of the river, due to the arbitrariness of careless officials, the people of Sambalpur are deprived of proper drinking water. Even after getting a drinking water connection, thousands of families are not getting water. When one person opens the tap, water comes out in drops, while no water comes out at all in another person’s tap despite numerous complaints to the authorities, no action was taken. Every year, the people of the Kanijuri area under the Metropolitan Corporation rush for water as soon as summer arrives. Even after the residents of the area complained to the office several times, the departmental officials did not think of solving their problems. In the areas of Dhanupali, Khetrajpur, Sakhipada, some houses are getting water and some are not. When asked, the officials and staff are blaming the people. They are saying that the speed of water is decreasing due to the installation of water motors.

Pipes are not spread out in the Remed area.

In a meeting held on Saturday in Remed field, the Prime Minister spoke about the arrangements made to bring water to homes in all the rural households of the country. However, the same assembly area falls within the Sambalpur Metropolitan Corporation (SMC) and does not have a PHD department drinking water connection. Sanjay Sadangi, who lives just 50 meters away from the meeting ground, said that the PHD department has forgotten about the Remed area. We have not seen piped water. He said that there is no water supply from the Remed village to the IPS school and the pipe has not fallen. People are getting water from some tube wells in that area. Many people are suffering as a result of their lack of access to water.