Around 100 families in the Muchia gram panchayat in Old Malda block are facing an acute shortage of drinking water, thanks to the floodwaters from the swollen Mahananda river that has submerged a large part of their village.
The people in the GP are using boats to go to other places to fetch drinking water for their family members, who have taken shelter at safer places. Some huts in the Bidhangarh village are also precariously perched along the banks of the river. Residents have already deserted such huts. “We have been cut off and are facing the problem for the past around 10 days, but neither the panchayat nor the block administration have paid attention,” a local said.
According to sources, five to seven villages, including Sindhiapara, Baruipara, Charlakhhipur, Shibgunj, and Bidhangarh in Muchia GP have been waterlogged for more than a week now, and people, with domestic animals, were living under the open sky. “The distress has doubled with the scarcity of drinking water, and villagers alleged that neither relief nor baby food has been supplied to them,” a source said.
Residents of Bidhangarh like Bijon, Jayanti and Sukumar Sarkar said agricultural land had been washed away and vegetables they had grown were also gone. “We are not provided any relief so far, but at the time of elections, party leaders come here to beg for votes. They are nowhere here when we need them,” they alleged.
Subhalakhhi Gain, the pradhan of the GP, said, “Some villages have been flooded and we have formed a flood committee to look after the needs of the people. The block administration has already been notified and tarpaulins have been given away among the affected. Submersibles are under water so small water reservoirs have been sent to affected areas to ease the drinking water problem.”
Mrinalini Mandal Maity, the sabhapati of the Old Malda panchayat samity, said, “Some boats have also been provided to the locals for their convenience.”