Devi Maya Khadka of Bijuwapani VDC in Panchthar district leaves home hurriedly at 4'0 clock in the morning to fetch drinking water. She is never surprised to see a long queue at the water filling site as it is quite normal. Her turn to fill her vessel with water came after standing in the line for four hours. It took her another one hour to fill-up her two pitchers due to thin water flow from the tap.

"I come here early as I have to make my children ready for school," said Khadka. "The pitcher is just enough for cooking purpose. I have to come here again to fetch water for cattle," she said. According to her, many people like her spend most of their time just fetching water for various household activities.

The village has been reeling under acute shortage of water since long, forcing the people even to migrate from their ancestral place. Around 84 households used to reside in the village till five years ago. Now the number has decreased to 37 households. According to locals there are various reasons behind the migration, and water problem is one of the main causes.

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Locals wait for their turn to fill their vessles with water at a public tap in Bijawapani VDC of Panchthar district. Water scarcity in the district is worsening every year. “There was no such problem till five years ago,” said a local. (Giri Raj Baskota/republica)

According to Village Development Committee (VDC) secretaries, 132 families from three VDCs have migrated in less than one year, including 47 from Rani Gaun, 43 from Yasoka and 42 from Syabarumba. VDC secretary Tuka Baral, who looks after Rani Gaun and Syabarumba, said that the migration rate will go up drastically if the drinking water woes are not addressed timely. At present, a total of 25,000 villagers are reeling under acute water shortage.

Water scarcity in the district is worsening every year. "There was no such problem till five years ago," said local Surendra Bohora. "Our village used to supply water to nearby villages as well," he recalled.

Neighboring villages such as Yasok, Rani Gaun and Syabarumba are also hit by shortage of water. People are forced to use polluted water for drinking.

Tractors can be seen hauling tanks filled with river water, but people have no choice than to risk contracting many diseases by consuming such water.

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According to local Khem Raj Niroula of Yasok, the village used to have plenty of water sources, so much so that they never had to worry about how to irrigate their fields. However, many of the sources have completely dried up and the remaining ones are also on the verge of extinction.

"We used to swim in various ponds when I was a child," Niroula recalled. "Nobody believes me now if I say that our village used to be rich in water sources," he added. According to him, acute shortage of water has hit villagers hard.

Locals of Syabarumba complain they are not able to tend to other works with much of their times taken up by filling waters. "Water worries never leave us," said Netra Bohora, who was preparing to return home after filling water. "Not only is the water filling site far from home, we also need to stand in a long queue," he said. He added that such problems also affect studies of their children.

Water woes have also severely affected other important sectors such as education, health, economy, and agriculture, among others. After seeing no other way, people are increasingly migrating. Only Yasok village has taken the initiative to address the drinking water woes. "Yasok Drinking Water Scheme-1" project has been initiated under the budget of Rs 6.8 million. The project aims to address the water woes for 112 households. However, none of the taps built under the project are functional at present.

For the project, Drinking Water Division Office has contributed four million rupees, locals contributed Rs 1.3 million and the rest was financed by various agencies. After the huge investment failed to bring any respite, locals suspect financial irregularities in the project. The locals have registered their complaints one month ago at the District Administration Office (DAO), however the DAO is yet to investigate the matter.

According to locals, chairman of users' committee and secretaries are misusing large amounts allocated for the project. They say that the DAO has been keeping mum and not investigating the matter as the officials have been bribed to overlook it.

Published on: 21 March 2015 | Republica