Locals demand arsenic-free water

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 21 AUG: Several arsenic afflicted people including women backed by the local leaders like the sabhapati of Kaliachak panchayat samiti today staged a dharna in front of the district magistrate's office demanding supply of arsenic-free water in their villages.

The leaders and arsenic afflicted people planned to submit a representation to the top officials of the public health engineering department including the chief engineer II, Mr Bappa Sarkar, who was on a visit to Malda this morning.

On receiving information of the representation, the officials of the PHE left for Ratua to visit their arsenic free water treatment plant at around 8.45 am just before the people of Kaliachak arrived here.

Locals started agitating at the main gate of the district magistrate’s office where the SDO, Mr Prakash Pal assured them that he would draw the departmental engineers’ attention over this issue. Interestingly, though it was decided that PHE officials would return to the old circuit house and its own guest house around afternoon, but they did not return. The locals believe that they were trying to avoid the agitators who were waiting for them all day long. Finally, after waiting for a long time, the agitators also left the Malda town.

The sabhapati of Kaliachak panchayat samiti, Mr Lutfur Rahman, said: “The PHE department had started supplying arsenic-free water in Kaliachak eight years ago but no drinking water has been supplied for nearly four thousand people living at Khikirbona village. More than fifty percent of them are afflicted fordrinking arsenic contaminated under ground water”.

The Malda Zilla Parishad member from Majampur, Mr Gulam Kibria Biswas, claimed that the arsenic free water treatment plant at Dariapur in Kaliachak II do not provide pure water to villages like Majampur and Narayanpur.

“Three years ago the department had allotted a fund of more than Rs 5 crore but nothing has been done for the supply of pure water to those villages”, said Mr Biswas.

“Many projects after laying pipelines have been lying defunct”, he said. Both Mr Biswas and Mr Rahaman pointed out that the executive engineer, Mr D Banerjee had been working here since seven years and that he had spent the allotted funds here for ‘unproductive’ purposes.

The local people sent the copy of their representation to the district magistrate, sabhadhipati and minister in charge of the PHE. But the PHE officials including the chief engineer were not available for comment.