No water source for Kalmakanda Hajongs
Where there is water, there is life. A reliable source of water is one of the most fundamental requirements of any human society, but it is a far cry for people from Hajong community.
They have to walk one kilometer to reach small springs or a well to fetch water as there is no source of water near their homes at bordering village Gopalbari Chengni in Netrakona’s Kalmakanda upazila.
Some 1000 people of the community are collecting water in such a way for years for want of a tube-well in their area.
Ninety-five-year-old Monosha Hajong of the village said she also passed her days collecting water in such a way.
None took initiative yet to install any tube-wells or deep tube-wells to mitigate their century old problems, said housewife Aloka Hajong, 50, of the area.
It is so difficult to walk one km every day to collect water, she said.
Rojita Hajong, 30, of the same village, said the situation worsens when the flow of water from the springs is not the same round the year.
Admitting the acute shortage of water in the area, Md Saidur Rahman Bhuiyan, chairman of Lengura Union Parishad (UP), said setting up of a tube-well, 1,000 feet deep, is very costly here as the area is an end of a slope of The Meghalaya Hills.
The ultra-poor people set up a ring well at their own expense and collect water from it in queue, he said.
Around Tk one lakh is needed to install a deep-well and it is not a huge cost if the authorities concerned take initiatives, the chairman said.
He also said former Awami League lawmaker Chhabi Biswas visited the area on various occasions and pledged for taking steps to mitigate the problem but no action was taken yet.
The indigenous people have been living in the locality for some 400 years and they never get modern equipments for having pure drinking water, the chairman lamented.
They have recently informed incumbent lawmaker Manu Majumder about the matter, said UP member Sajal Hagonj.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Zakir Hossain it is hard to install deep tube-well in the hill area.
Two ring wells will be set up in the area within a month on emergency basis, said the UNO.