Dalit settlement in remote Bajura faces an acute shortage of drinking water

By Sher Bahadur Sarki, Bajura, Oct.4: The severe shortage of drinking water has been observed in dozens of Dalit settlements at the Jagannath Rural Municipality-6, Obab, which lies in the eastern- northern region, of the Bajura District even in the rainy season. 

Since there has been no drinking water in the settlement for ages, the local Dalit families have been forced to walk for hours to fetch water from the river and drink the unsafe stream water.

Kashi Chandra Sarki, a local from Jagannath Rural Municipality-6, Obab, Bajura, said that dozens of local Dalit families are compelled to drink the unsafe stream water for the lack of drinking water in the whole village. 

He said, “Despite the program ‘One home, One Tap’, being running in the Bajura district, there is not even a single tap water in the village.”

According to Chandra Krishna Sarki, many families in the settlement have been suffering from cold and fever because of drinking muddy water. 

The health worker instructs people to have clean safe drinking water when they visit health posts for treatment. But, many are forced to drink unsafe water from streams. 

Most of the residents of the Bajura district are now forced to drink water from the river after water sources in the village dried up due to floods and landslides of the last monsoon. 

Locals said that drinking water from rivers causes diarrhea, dysentery, cold and other diseases. 

A few years ago, three taps were built in the village of Chaugad river in the Jagannath Rural Municipality-6, Bajura. B

A local woman, Hyukala Sarki, said that there was a water shortage in the village after all three tap water was destroyed by the flood and landslide of last year. 

Local females of the village are demanded proper management of drinking water in the village saying that there is a danger to their lives while fetching water from the river at night. 

She said, “We worry about fetching water when the sun starts to go down.