Residents in Sunderbans’ Sahebkhali panchayat and East Midnapore’s Sonachura panchayat under Nandigram constituency have decided not to cast their votes in the Assembly elections to protest against the district administration’s inefficiency to solve the long-pending crisis of pure drinking water.
People in both the areas have been suffering from water crisis for almost a year due to damage caused to the tube wells during cyclone Amphan. While the repair and fresh installations were completed a few months ago, they have been facing a fresh water crisis with the onset of summer as the water level has dropped alarmingly.
Angry over the inaction of the administration to settle their long-pending water crisis, the residents of the two pockets of Hingalganj and Nandigram, from where chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will fight this time, have decided not to cast vote, and also decided not to allow the political parties campaign in their areas.
Last week Sahebkhali residents blocked Dulduli-Hemnagar road demanding immediate installations of pump sets and water storage tanks in the areas, whereas the villagers in Southkhali of Nandigram asked Trinamul and BJP workers to leave the area as they were not ready to rely on empty “promise”.
“Why should we vote? If the administration cannot meet our basic needs like water, there is no purpose in taking part in the poll process. We have made it clear,” a villager in Sahebkhali said.
The residents of Sahebkhali, Gobingakati, Kalitala, Jogeshganj, Dulduli, Panchabali of Hingalganj as well as Gangra, Southkhali of Sonachura areas alleged that every year during February to June they suffered tremendous water crisis due to drop in water level.
“This year the water level dropped so much that it takes an hour to fill a pot of ten litres,” Gouranga Mistry, a villager said.
Villagers in Sahebkhali said the drop in water level compelled them to undertake a cycle ride of about 3km to bring water from adjacent village. In Sahebkhali, the situation has come to such a passé that around 100 tube-well in the area had become non-functional. The families who have no means to fetch the water from such a distance are being compelled to drink pond water after boiling it at home.
“We don’t have money to buy water. Amphan had destroyed our lives,” a villager said.
Residents of Gangra in Southkhali echoed the allegations of Hingalganj’s Sahebkhali. “The problem of the dropping of water level is there for over a decade. But the state government has never bothered to resolve it. The situation has aggravated with no rain during the past few months. As a result, the crisis of drinking water has become bigger here,” said Kanai Chandra Pal, 54, a resident of Gangra in Sonachura.
“Suvendubabu was the MLA during the past five years, but did nothing despite being several reminders,” Pal added.
Badal Samata, a quack from Southkhali said: “Many of us are not in a position to fetch water from distant areas and are forced to drink pond water. Many villagers are suffering from water-borne diseases as they are compelled to drink pond water.”
Acknowledging the problem, Sonachur panchayat pradhan Kalikrishna Pradhan said: “This is definitely a long-pending problem. In certain areas we have installed submersible pumps, which has not been done in Southkhali because of land issue. The problem is likely to be resolved by 2022 when the river surface water supply project in Chandipur is completed.”
Hingalganj BDO Saswata Prakash Lahiri said: “It is a recurring problem. We are trying our best to solve the water crisis by arranging water for the villagers through PHE supply.”
BJP leader in Hingalganj Tarun Mandal said: “We will urge the administration to assure the villagers to solve the water problem so that they take part in voting.”