The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Adi Dravidar colony facing water scarcity

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Tuesday, Aug 04, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Adi Dravidar colony facing water scarcity

Staff Reporter

Photos: N. Bashkaran

In dire straits: Children carrying drinking water on bicycles from a lake to Thogarapalli Adi Dravidar Colony in Bargur union in Krishnagiri district on Monday. (right) The redundant water tank with borewell, hand pump and drinking water pipes without taps at the colony. —

KRISHNAGIRI: The Adi Dravidar cColony at Thogarapalli in Bargur Assembly constituency is facing acute water scarcity round-the-year and it becomes worse during summer, says Kala Gunasekaran, unit secretary, All India Democratic Women’s Association, on Monday.

She told ‘The Hindu’ that the colony lacks basic facilities such as drinking water, street lights, sanitation and clean environment. Though there are nine borewells in and around Thogarapalli panchayat, water is being drawn only from two borewells to three overhead tanks in the village.

The street taps provided in the colony were closed by the authorities after the women blocked the road last year. Later, they provided 10 pipes without taps on the Pochampalli-Thogarapalli road in unclean surroundings.

Water supplied through these pipes was not enough for the 100-odd families residing in the colony. There are 44 group houses in the colony. School students are forced by the parents to bring water from a distance. There is no common sanitary facility for the colony. A common rest room for women built under the MLA Local Area Development at a cost of Rs. 2 lakh at the beginning of the village lies unused.

The village panchayat has no mechanism to clean the streets. Wastes such as polythene bags and eatables lie strewn all over the village. Women complained that though a sweeper was appointed to clean the village, she is yet to reach the village.

Ravanan, a CPI (M) activist said, “when abundant water is available in the borewell dug by private parties, why has borewell dug by the panchayat gone dry.”

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