Drinking water crisis grips Magadh region

Jehanabad, Apr 17 (UNI) With the onset of summer the crisis of drinking water was looming large on the draught prone Magadh region that includes Jehanabad and Arwal districts of Bihar.

While the ground water levels were plummeting fast, drying up the wells, the Jehanabad town was facing severe power cuts and consequent disruption of water supply.

Scores of villages were facing water crisis as all traditional water bodies like ponds, tanks and other water sources had almost dried up in the absence of rains.

According to reports, about 60 per cent of handpumps in the rural and urban areas were inactive for the past several years for want of repairing. Those in working condition were not enough to the growing population. A large number of tubewells in the rural areas were not working owing to power cuts.

The condition of some villages situated close to Barabar hills in Makhdumpur block was reported to be alarming.

Residents of Dakra, Kharouna, Makpa, Sadhugram, Bhaikh, Prabhat Nagar, Dharant, Audanbigha, Lohgarh and Mahadeobigha were facing a drinking water crisis. The plight of the cattles was worse.

In Jehanabad town, there were only two pump houses, installed by the PHED over two decades ago, to cater to a population of about 50,000. Now the heads have gone up to one lakh but the number of pumps remained same.

Over a dozen localities of the town such as Khatri Tola, Thakurbari, Raja Bazar, Zafarganj and Madhav Nagar were yet to be covered under the piped water supply scheme.

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