To drink or wash hands, that is the dilemma
PRAYAGRAJ: The mandate from medicos is to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds to keep Covid-19 at bay, every time you come in contact with an external agent. And where there is no water, one must use alcohol-based sanitisers.
For the hundreds of residents of Prayagraj’s Shankargarh area and around, the mere thought of washing hands repeatedly is no less than a joke. Reason: Water here is almost a priceless commodity. “Villagers walk long distances to fetch water for households. For many, it is a daily exercise that eats up four to six hours. With very few water sources like hand-pumps, no one actually is able to observe social distancing,” said Tikari Kalan village gram pradhan Kiran Singh’s representative Hanuman Lal Singh.
Shivrajpur zila panchayat member Kunjan Lal Mishra seconds that thought. “Despite handpumps and even tube-wells in the area and Samooh Peyajal Yojna implemented here, they are grossly inadequate,” he said. The story of water shortage is pretty much the same in villages like Ganne, Harro, Lohgara, Naribari, Aamgodar, Biharia and Taktai of Bara.
Bara tehsildar Vishal Sharma concedes to the acute water shortage but adds that at present, 18 water tankers have been deployed for various villages of the area. Residents of Prayagraj’s trans-Yamuna villages of Koraon tehsil and southern part of Manda development block of Meja tehsil—all located 50 to 80km from Sangam city— are also battling this annual summer challenge. “Villages located in Upraudh and Pal areas that lack water bodies are the worst hit,” said Tikar village of Koraon gram pradhan Malti Devi.
While a dozen small rivers in the area are running dry, 728 India Mark hand-pumps are awaiting re-boring.
And 139 hand-pumps are in dire need of repair, out of 6,937 India Mark hand-pumps and another 3,000 small hand-pumps owned by various individuals, locals said.
In Manda too, residents of Sonbarsa, Kudar, Newari, Parseedhi, Kurhara and Dhanawal are facing similar problems. Prayagraj CDO Ashish Kumar said that an adequate number of water tankers had been deployed and the roster for repair and re-boring of hand-pumps had been prepared. “No efforts are being spared to ensure water supply in trans-Yamuna villages,” he added.