20 Siraha villages under acute drinker water shortage

SIRAHA, April 13: As many as 20 VDCs in the northern belt of Siraha district have been facing acute shortage of drinking water after the water sources as wells and boring wells emptied in the recent time.



Some 100,000 people have been directed affected with this problem. Some of the families even began migrating to other places due to this.[break]



A woman from Lalpur VDC Samjhana Thapaliya said, "The water scarcity is likely to depopulate the northern belt of the district very soon."



She added the women have to fight for their turn every morning to collect the water that too very little and murky in some few wells.



Due to the water scarcity, the people from Lalpur, Jamdaha, Ayodhyanagar, Chiyabari and others have to walk for 10 km and reach the villages in the southern belt to collect the water every day.



Poor villagers said as they have not witnessed rainfall for long time the crops are dried up and faded. There are no green vegetables at all, they added.



The uncontrolled deforestation in the Chure hill and inadequate rainfall for two years in the area have further deepened the water in the wells.



The well and boring well dug up to 80 to 100 feet down the surface have no water at all.



Madhav Thapaliya from Gurudham said, "All sources of water are getting emptied very soon. So, the people would have no option but to leave the settlements."

After the water shortage, the villagers stopped vegetable farming, and left the arable lands uncultivated.



It is therefore the authorities concerned in the district need to heed the dire state of the people with inspection of the parched villages.

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