Dry spell hits Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 15: The continuing dry spell has started to take effect in Malda district. The ground water level has dropped, many tube wells are dry, and drinking water crisis has hit several parts of the district.

The public health engineering executive engineer for Malda, Mr Swapan Maitra, acknowledged the crisis: “We have heard that tube wells in some areas have run dry. There have been reports of a drinking water crisis in Ratua. But we do not have any ready scheme to meet the drinking water crisis. Generally, we get instructions from the Malda zilla parishad on such matters. We had approached the MZP chief but have not received any instruction to repair the tube wells,” Mr Maitra said.

Describing the predicament, Mr Pratap Kundu, a tea stall owner at Jagannathpur village in Chanchal, said: “We need heavy rain soon. Many tube wells are not functioning due to the drop in ground water. We are coping with water from the river.”

Lack of drinking water in Habibpur area of Barind belt is a perennial problem every summer, but this year there is a water crisis in the northern parts of the district as well.

The crisis has also affected English Bazaar town, and with the Mahananda River almost drying up, the situation is tight. “We have decided to extend the given time for the distribution of drinking water through pipelines in some areas, to meet the present crisis in the rural belt. But many areas are not under the coverage of the PHE,” said the executive engineer, Mr Maitra.