Koraput: The decades-long wait for the tribal families of Bagra village in Nabarangpur district for safe drinking water ended on Saturday with the district administration installing tubwells in the remote area.

Before Saturday, at least 37 tribal families of Bagra village in Tentulikhunti block were forced to consume polluted stream water.

"Even though our village is next to the reservoir, we, ironically, had no safe drinking water source and were forced to consume the polluted stream water. Villagers often fell ill because of it," said Suku Muduli, a resident of the village.

To reach the village, one has to travel around 8km on water in the reservoir from Tentulikhunti. The village is also approachable from Koraput's Dasmantpur block. After reaching Girligumma in Dasmantpur, one has to cover around 10km by road to reach the village.

"The geographical location of Bagra is such that it was not possible to dig tube wells," said Nabarangpur collector Ajit Kumar Mishra.

However, during a recent visit of the collector and former secretary of rural development department Bishnupad Sethi to the village, the villagers told them about their drinking water problems.

"On a priority basis, it was decided to construct tube-wells at the village. All available options were explored to ensure that a tube well digging vehicle could reach the village," the collector said.

As it was not possible to reach the village by road through Tentulikhunti, the administration constructed a 10km-long kuccha road under the MGNREGA from Girligumma.

"As the kuccha road was motorable, the tube-well digging vehicle reached the village and dug two tube-wells. However, as the village is situated on a hilltop, we succeeded in our sixth attempt in finding the groundwater," said Manoranjan Mali, executive engineer of the rural water supply and sanitation department, Nabarangpur.

"We are delighted as the tube wells have been dug prior to the arrival of the rainy season. In the monsoon, the stream water gets polluted and the villagers invariably get affected by diarrhoea and other diseases," said Budu Jani, a villager.