Rayagada: Thousands of residents of over 100 villages in the district are facing acute shortage of drinking water after power company officials snapped supply from at least 73 drinking water projects, allegedly for non-payment of electricity bills.

On Sunday, Southern Electricity Supply Company of Odisha Ltd (Southco) officials snapped supply from the projects at various villages in Rayagada, Kalyansinghpur, Kashipur, Kolnara, Bissamkatak and Muniguda blocks.

"Around 207 projects have a Rs 61 lakh electricity bill due. We sent several reminders to the authorities concerned for payment, but to no avail. We will snap power from more water supply projects in the coming days," said Southco's Rayagada executive engineer Narayan Nayak.

Sources said with the drinking water projects lying defunct, the villagers are now dependant on polluted stream water and rivers flowing near the villages to meet their water needs.

"We have to travel over 2km in the sweltering heat to reach the nearby river for water. The river water is polluted and there is every chance that villagers would get infected by various waterborne diseases," said Purna Huika, a resident of Karapa village in Kalyansinghpur block.

Moreover, the water supply project in the Kalyansinghpur block headquarters town has been snapped because of a pending Rs 4 lakh electricity bill.

The villagers have since urged the district administration to sort out the issue at the earliest as the rivers and streams would start drying up once summer intensifies.

"If power supply is not restored at the earliest, then the villagers will face greater problem as majority of the villages do not have tubewells and the streams will get dry soon with rising temperature," said Sadhu Patra, a Kalyansinghpur resident.

However, officials said the problem arose as maintenance of the projects was handed over to the panchayats concerned in September 2016. However, no effort was made to ensure agreements between Southco and the panchayat samitis for payment of bills. As a result, the electricity bills were still addressed to the district rural water supply and sanitation department that had constructed the projects.

"We will apprise senior department officials about the matter to take necessary steps so that the due bills are paid at the earliest," said Niran Sahu, the department's executive engineer in Rayagada.