People in Udharbond are using ancient methods to deal with water crisis 

Amidst all bragging and publicity about the success of providing drinking water facilities, people are still struggling to get an adequate amount of drinking and household water to sustain their lives. We don’t need to look far because just take a half an hour ride from Silchar to Udarbond’s Tikolpar Grampanchayat, and one can find how the people of Tikolpar are still deprived of water facilities. They have to dig up the ground and collect water literally.

The people of Deshbandhunagar of Tilokpar Panchayat told with grief and despair that they were not provided with any tube well or public ring well yet. Their lives depend upon the muddy untreated water from the river, or they have to dig up the ground to get some water. They use it both for drinking and other household purposes, and they suffer from many water-borne diseases. “The water turns muddy during the rain, and we harvest rainwater for drinking purposes,” said Sima Rani Das, a local woman. They have demanded many times to PHE, but no actions were taken.

According to the Jal Jeevan Mission data, 47.28 percent of rural households have access to the piped water supply. Goa, Haryana, and Telangana, and three Union Territories, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Puducherry, have 100% access to running water, according to the government data. In Assam, only 37.76 % of households are facilitated with tapped water supply, which is less than the national average, whereas in the Cachar district 57.50 % of households have tapped water connection.