Amid intense heat and record temperatures witnessed in Assam, a village finds itself in dire straits amidst drying wells and other water sources. As per reports, Dolonigaon village which falls under the Mazbat circle of the Udalguri district of Assam, along the interstate border with Arunachal Pradesh is struggling with severe water scarcity.
Groundwater levels have significantly gone down causing at least eight wells in the village to dry up, while the water levels of a river passing near the village have also dwindled. As a result, the villagers are facing severe water scarcity for the past few weeks due to scorching heat. Villagers have complained a lack of safe and adequate drinking water. Moreover, they have also not bathed for the last 15 days amid serious concerns of dwindling water sources.
According to the locals, they do not even get the required water for a single day. “We are tired of the dirty, poisonous water from those two to three wells,” they said. This has led to an uproar in the village.
Of the village's eight wells, only two or three wells are functional with a small amount of water accumulating every two to three hours. This water is dirty, muddy, and unfit for drinking or other purposes, the villagers say. “We are filtering this dirty water to use for cooking purposes daily,” the exasperated people added.
The water scarcity has forced villagers to form long queues and sometimes ending up without enough to go through the day. Meanwhile, the water in the river near the village is also drying up and resembling a desert leaving the people of Dalnigaon helpless
The government’s Jal Jeevan Mission under the ‘Har Ghar Nal, Har Ghar Jal’ is yet to reach the village. No representative of BTR including the local MLA Charan Boro has visited the village and tried to solve their problems.
People have requested the BTR government and the Assam government to make arrangements for clean drinking water in the village at the earliest
