Balangir, the erstwhile
capital of the princely state of Patna, which was enjoying a zenith
status in water supply and management once upon a time, has turn into
the poorest region in terms of water availability at present.
While the district has
already earned disrepute for its chronic poverty and starvation death,
now Balangir is reeling under water crisis. Again the scorching heat
with a 46 degree Celsius temperature has aggravated the situation.
During the earlier days
Balangir had a plethora of traditional water reservoirs called Bandh,
Sagar, Kataa, Chahalaa and other sources. In the town, those were even
connected to each other to balance the supply process. But thanks to
the administration in these days the same Balangir district is the worst
victim of water scarcity.
While Maharani Sagar, a 107-acre tank was the prime
source of water supply to Balangir town, it fell into disuse mainly
due to encroachments. But the administration became dumb to this.
As a result the water department started to take
water from the Suktel River, at Chhatamakhna, about17 km from the town.
But again it could not resolve the problem keeping in view the ever
growing demography of the town.
At present, the main source of water is Mahanadi
at Sonepur (Subarnapur) about 50 km away from Balangir. However,
there is again lot of hindrances in the water supply, the major of which
is piercing of supply pipes at several points by farmers to irrigate
their lands on the way.
The public health and engineering (PHED) department
avers that water is being supplied to Balangir from the Mahanadi river
through a 50 km pipeline and two production wells in the town itself
and they are supplying according to people’s demand. But getting this
supply once in 4 to 5 days does not make any sense.
Besides the water scarcity, power cuts and low voltage
problem makes life really embarrassing in the district.
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