Tatiparthi Tribal Women Protest Against Drinking Water Shortage With Empty Pots
Despite assurances that piped drinking water will be supplied to every household under the Jal Jeevan Mission, there has been no progress: Residents
VISAKHAPATNAM: Tribal women from Tatiparthi village in Chimalapadu panchayat of Ravikamatham mandal in Anakapalli district staged a protest on Friday with empty pots to highlight the prolonged drinking water shortage in their village.
The village, home to 48 tribal families, has been facing an acute drinking water crisis for several years. Residents say the only protected drinking water tank, constructed about two decades ago, is in a dilapidated condition and may collapse any time.
Further, the water that is supplied is unsafe due to the lack of regular chlorination. Frequent power outages disrupt water supply, forcing women to walk nearly two kilometres to a natural spring to fetch drinking water. The four hand pumps in the village have become defunct, leaving them with no reliable source of safe drinking water.
Residents said despite assurances that piped drinking water will be supplied to every household under the Jal Jeevan Mission, there has been no progress. They complained that poor quality of water is affecting their health.
Villagers, including Boyina Sujatha, Boyina Gangamma, and Seggi Lakshmi, submitted a representation to the Ravikamatham Mandal Parishad Development Officer, seeking construction of a new water tank to resolve their drinking water problem.
“Our symbolic protest carrying empty pots highlights the urgency of addressing the community's basic need for safe drinking water, whose shortage we have endured for years,” Sujatha said.