Orissa drying up under scorching heat

By Prafulla Das

BOLANGIR, MAY 1. Large tracts of Orissa are drying up. With several districts in the western part experiencing high temperatures during the past couple of weeks, lakhs of people in the region have been hit by a severe water crisis with rivers, water bodies, ponds and tube wells going dry.

Travelling through the region, particularly Bolangir district, one finds the people as well as cattle taking shelter under the trees. The urban settlements, which have little tree cover, appear virtually curfew-bound during the hot hours. Almost all shops remain closed between 12 noon and 5 p.m. to escape the scorching sun. Water scarcity has only added to the people's woes. As tubewells are drying up and ponds shrinking by the day, the people in Bolangir have been left high and dry. Many parts of the district are recording over 45 degrees C. The sub- divisional town of Titilagarh, one of the hottest places in the country, has been badly affected.

Titilagarh recorded a maximum temperature of 47.6 degrees C. on Sunday, while Bolangir recorded 45.9 C. The temperature reached 40 degrees C. by 10 a.m. in Titilagarh. Temperature exceeding 45 degrees C. was reported from Jharsuguda and Sundargarh.

Although having a population of over 30000, Titilagarh does not have a water supply system that can meet the requirement of the people. The existing system is dependent on bore wells. As the water level recedes, the taps remain dry during most parts of the day. With most of the wells and the two ponds in the town drying up fast and tube wells going dry with water level dipping in the wake of the heatwave, people are getting desperate in many localities.

Attempts by the authorities to supply drinking water by tankers has failed to ease the crisis. Five wagons of water was brought to the Titilagarh railway station on Saturday, but distribution could be completed only on Sunday due to lack of required number of tankers. ``Bringing water by train is no solution to our problem. The tanker cannot reach every locality,'' said Mr. Dhruv Charan Sahu, a young businessman. For that matter, there are not enough tankers to ferry water to such largely populated towns.

Finding it difficult to manage with the water being provided to them, the inmates of the Titilagarh jail on Sunday threatened to go without food if they were not given adequate supply. Though the jail needed 6000 litres of water daily, only 1000 litres was being provided.

Ironically, Titilagarh could have been spared the crisis by bringing water from the Tel river, just about 15 km away. But nothing has been done and the town, as is the situation every summer, tries to manage the crisis.

``The project to bring water to Titilagarh from the Tel river near Kesinga was cleared nearly five years ago. But no work has started till date,'' says Mr. Balgopal Mishra, MLA from the parched district's Loisingha segment. ``The crisis is therefore partly manmade,'' Mr. Mishra says. Water scarcity and shooting mercury are not new to Titilagarh or other areas in the western districts. The problem has been there for long and every summer the region faces scarcity of drinking water. The authorities, however, have done little to implement various plans that have been drawn up from time to time.

According to Mr. Narasingha Mishra, Janata Dal(U) leader and Chairman of the Western Orissa Development Council, a majority of tube wells are going dry during summer because only Rs. 12,000 out of the Rs. 40,000 sanctioned for sinking a tube well in the area is being spent for the purpose. The rest is siphoned off by officials and contractors.

In Titilagarh and several other areas of Bolangir, it requires a minimum of 200 feet depth to get water from a tube well. At places, it goes down to even 500 ft. But the tube wells are not being sunk to the level where it could provide water in all seasons. ``About 70 per cent of the tube wells dug up in the area by various government agencies are not properly sunk and this makes them dry during summer,'' Mr. Mishra complains. He has demanded that all tube wells sunk during the past five years be checked and action initiated against those who violated the prescribed norms.

In Bolangir town, scarcity continues because the pipeline that brings water from the Mahanadi, about 50 km way, is being tampered with at many places by people living in the villages along the route. It is said that all the villages along the pipeline could be provided water from the pipeline if the Government took necessary steps.

Though the State Government provided one tube well for a population of 250 people in other regions, last year it decided to provide one tube well for 150 people in the KBK (Kalahandi- Bolangir-Koraput) districts. Under the new scheme, a total of 13000 tube wells had to be sunk in these districts. But only 3000 had been sunk in 1999-2000.

Whatever the authorities do now to save the situation, the people in Titilagarh and Bolangir are apprehensive of many more hot days ahead. According to meteorological records, Titilagarh and many other areas in the region record the highest temperature of the season in May.

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