Opposition leader Hemant Soren has accused chief minister Raghubar Das of staying silent over the water crisis across the state.

In a tweet on Saturday, Hemant said: “Pani ke liye pure pradesh mein hahakar macha hua hai par Raghubar Das se humne is mudde par ek bhi shabd nahin suna. (The entire state is crying for water but we have not heard a word from Raghubar Das on this issue).”

Calling for policy changes to tackle this problem, Hemant went on in his tweet: “Har saal dikkat aati hai par sarkar ke neend abhi tak nahin khuli hai. Samay hai nitiyon aur niyat mein badlav lane ka jisse hum jal ko aane wale pidhiyn ke liye bachav karte huye abhi ke jarroraten puri kar sakein. (Every year the problem makes a comeback but the government has not woken up yet. The time has come bring changes in policy and intent to ensure water is conserved for coming generations and is used for the needs of today).”

The tweet came at the time when in Ranchi alone, around 3,800 boreholes of Harmu Housing Colony in RMC ward 26 and 800 boreholes of Vidya Nagar in ward 34, both part of Ranchi parliamentary constituency where the BJP won by a landslide, have dried up.

Contacted, Sanjeev Vijayvargiya, Ranchi deputy mayor and a BJP leader, admitted that water scarcity was a crisis and added that efforts were on for a permanent solution to the problem.

“Water crisis is something we are concerned about. Boring holes is no permanent solution to the water crisis. We have planned to supply surface water to Ranchi citizens and are working on a project named Amrit Yojana for this. I hope under this project by next year each and every house in the city has water connection. To conserve underground water, we have planned a water harvesting project. For a temporary solution, we distribute water through (RMC) tankers,” Vijayvargiya said.

Mayor Asha Lakra, another BJP leader, however scoffed at the severity of Hemant’s charges. “It’s the Opposition’s job to level allegations,” she said. “The crisis is not so severe as being painted, otherwise people would have hit the road in massive protests. We are successfully taking care of the needs of people even when boring has dried up,” Lakra said.

A Ranchi citizen from parched Vidya Nagar, however, blamed both Hemant Soren and Raghubar Das for the water crisis.

“Raghubar das and Hemant Soren have both ruled the state. But very little has been done to ensure water supply to Ranchi during summer,” said the Vidya Nagar resident, Priyanshu Kumar.

He added that if water from reservoirs had been supplied properly to houses through pipelines, people would have never dug up borings to deplete underground water.

“When Das started the Harmu river rejuvenation project in Ranchi, we all hoped this would increase the underground water level in Harmu and Vidya Nagar but this did not happen. The river remains a drain and Rs 80 crore of public money got wasted,” Priyanshu added.