Pochampalli: Madavi Annapurna Bai of Pochampally village in Sirikonda mandal of Adilabad district has been in a pensive mood since the onset of summer, haunted by the deaths of her husband and son in April last year.
Her husband Madavi Sonerao, 52, and son Suryabhan, 20, slipped accidentally into a well that deepened using an earthmover, while
performing a special puja to the well. The son slipped from the soil heap fell into the well and the father, who tried to save Suryabhan, also drowned.
Only two of three borewells are functional and cater to the needs of 34 families in Pochampalli village. Sonerao’s other son Rajasekhar said that they had spent Rs 50,000 to deepen the old well.
Madavi Jai Sheela of Pochampalli said they were not getting drinking water under Mission Bhagiratha for a long time though there are pipelines.
Villagers dug wells and borewells with their own money to overcome the water scarcity in many villages in the undivided Adilabad district area.
Meanwhile there has been some improvement in the supply of Mission Bhagiratha water to the interior villages in tribal areas for the last one week. Efforts are underway to streamline the scheme as summer brings in more pain.
Villagers of Koyalpandri in Indravell mandal had collected Rs 65,000 in donations and dug bore wells in their neighbouring village Ananthapur where the groundwater table is high. Koyalpandri villagers are collecting water from an agriculture well, which may dry up soon.
Villagers from Gattepalli-Kolamguda depend on the new well that has been dug up with assistance from the village head Kodapa Raju.
Jamuna Bai said that they were forced to drink muddy waterShe urged ITDA officials to provide a water plant to purify the muddy water.
Kodapa Mutha of Gattepalli-Kolamguda said that officials were sending a tanker but the water was muddy.
A few days ago, ITDA, Utnoor dug up a well at a cost of Rs 5 lakh but there is not much water in it. Villagers of Gottipatar in Utnoor mandal said that they have been getting water for the last few days after Mission Bhagiratha and RWS officials visited their villages and made repairs. Earlier, there was no water supply under Mission Bhagiratha to Gottipatar village.
At many Adivasi gudems where Adivasis are not drinking water supplied under Mission Bhagiratha and complain that the water smells differently and that is being using for cattle and washing clothes.
Bheempur Kolamguda in Narnoor mandal is also getting water supply under Mission Bhagiratha.
There are many interior villages like Salaiguda in Bela mandal and Kadki village in Narnoor mandal where people still depend on the streams and rivulets for drinking water.
