Good days are ahead for villagers in Maoist-hit Banka. They would soon get potable water at their doorsteps under a World Bank-sponsored project.

Next summer, the villagers can expect safe drinking water without having to travel far from home. They have a World Bank project to be implemented under the Centre’s rural water supply and sanitation programme to thank for it.

Apart from Bihar, the Rs 6,000-crore project will cover selected places in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. It is expected to improve access and usage of piped drinking water supplied to individual homes.

“Safe and pure drinking water would soon be supplied to 10 villages in nine blocks of Banka through a network of pipelines under the rural water supply and sanitation programme,” said Manoj Choudhary, executive engineer, public health and engineering department, Banka.

The department, Choudhary said, has already prepared an estimate of Rs 25 crore for the district. “We are hoping to soon start work on the project in Banka,” he said.

On an average, at least 1,000 pipeline connections would be set up in each village. Every household will have taps supplying drinking water. Choudhary added that Jal Minar (water tanks) would be constructed in many places under the project.

The villages to be benefited under the project in Banka are Kushmaha (in Bounsi block), Atpahara and Batsar (under Dhoriya), Maldih (under Sambhuganj), Singhnon (under Rajoun), Jaipur (under Katoria), Boruna (under Barahat), Suia (under Chandan), Pawai (under Amarpur) and Lohiya (under Belhar). Most of the villages are topographically inaccessible and considered stronghold of the Maoists.

Bateshwar Hembrom, a resident of Jaipur village in Katoria block, said: “In summer, every water source in the village such as wells, hand pumps and ditches dry up. We don’t have any option for drinking water and are forced to migrate to other places. If this project takes off, it will mean a lot to us.”

Anirudh Prasad Singh, the founder of a Katoria-based social organisation Muktiniketan, welcomed the decision.

“Even after so many years of Independence, pure drinking water remains a distant dream for people, not only in this district but also in adjoining districts like Munger and Jamui. I hope more villages are taken up under this World Bank-sponsored project,” he said.