Hot water mystery unnerves villagers

Manas R. Bannerjee
Statesman News Service

MALDA, Aug. 9: Panic gripped the residents of Kailashpur village and its surrounding areas in Old Malda block when they reportedly saw boiling water, with steam, coming out from a rat hole in a paddy field yesterday, panchayat officials said.Farmers of Sindhia and Kailashpur villages, 10 km east of English Bazaar town, feared that the unusual occurrence would affect aman paddy crops in the. Panchayat officials, however, failed to explain the scientific cause behind the episode.“It is a peculiar thing and the one we have witnessed for the first time”, Mr Asit Sarkar, pradhan of Muchia gram panchayat in Old Malda block, said. “We have kept electricity disconnected in the area since yesterday. Hot waters, however, continued to emerge from the rat hole till this morning. Since an electric pole lies close to the rat hole, we are taking no risk,” Mr Sarkar said. He added that they have brought the matter to the notice of the concerned block development officer.Today, hundreds of curious villagers, especially children, thronged the spot to watch the incidence. Police officials also visited the spot to take stock of the situation. “We don’t know the root cause of the development but the villagers’ apprehension is understandable,” said a police officer of Muchia. The joint BDO of the Old Malda block, Ms Sangita Talapatra, said: “We have got the information from the gram panchayat officials. The BDO has also visited the spot and will submit his report to the district head quarters soon. Had the geological experts appointed here, the mystery would have been resolved much more earlier.”The mystery would been resolved much more earlier.”

Pic collected from site .