Written by: Express News Service
3 min readSuratMay 9, 2012 06:43 AM IST
First published on: May 9, 2012 at 06:43 AM IST
With a drought-like situation in the Dangs,the locals have to purchase 500 litres of drinking water at the cost of Rs 250 since last few weeks. While many of the check dams have dried up and no other sources for supply of water has been developed,the residents had made representations to the Dangs district collector a few days ago.
There are around 311 villages in the Dangs district with population of over 2.50 lakh. Sources in the Dang district collector office said there are around 2,000 check dams,bore wells,water reservoirs in different villages of the Dangs and majority of the dams have dried up due to poor rainfall.
The Dangs was once known for good rains,but this year the tribals here are facing water scarcity. The residents of Ahwa,which is the capital of the Dangs districts,get water from Bhisiya dam,which has also dried up.
In Ahwa taluka,the residents have to pay Rs 250 for purchasing 500 litres of water. The villagers are reportedly purchasing water from private firms who usually fetch water from Bhukla dam and supply it for construction works. The dam is under forest department and 10 km from Ahwa town.
On Monday,thousands of tribals had assembled at Ahwa bus stand and took out a rally demanding sufficient water supply for the residents.
The Dangs District Collector P K Solanki said,“We have got several complaints about water scarcity in the entire district. The water supply department have also started survey in checking the dams. There are no ponds in the Dangs,so the water storage could not be done. The last rainfall in the district was poor and as a result of which the check dams have dried up. We have talked to the concerned department officials to supply water to different villages to overcome such situation.”
Sources said the government had sanctioned another bigger dam near Bhisiya dam which would come up at the cost of Rs 12 crore and the work is in process.
Water supply department executive engineer I G Patel said,“We have started survey of checking the check dams. We are trying to solve the problem by supply water through tankers in different villages.”
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