Berhampur: More than 300 people of a rehabilitation colony in the city on Saturday were supplied piped drinking water 19 years after their evacuation.
Around 76 families belonging to Muslim, Medri, Telugu and Gujarati communities were evacuated to facilitate Biju Patnaik Park on the Corporation Road in 2002 and rehabilitated at Chandania Pahad village in Ward 1 of Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) in Ganjam district.
Since their rehabilitation, they continued to face acute water scarcity as the authorities sank only one borewell in the colony. Further, the water from the borewell was not fit for human consumption which forced them to fetch water from Haridakhandi, 5 km away.
Now the BeMC has provided six public stand-posts in the village and promised to provide drinking water through pipeline to houses from Janibili project within a fortnight.
Md Fiaz Khan, secretary, BJD State Muslim Minority Cell, who visited the village two months ago to promote awareness about COVID-19, was apprised of the water crisis by the residents. “I am happy that the BeMC has taken the decision to supply drinking water to the villagers,” he said.
