Locals say the long spell of drought and acute water crisis have compelled them to leave their villages Bajura, March 2 Dozens of villages in Bajura are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water after most of the local water sources dried up. Some 400-odd families in Dhim village in Himali Rural Municipality-6 are now making do with the river water after water sources in the village went dry. “We’ve had a tough time ever since the water sources went dry,” said Gorakh Bahadur Sarki, a local, adding they are fetching water from a stream about an hour’s trek from the village. According to Dhim village chair Govind Bahadur Malla, around 13 water sources have dried up across the rural municipality this year. “The water crisis has gotten worse in as many as 15 villages of the rural municipality,” informed Malla, adding a number of families from the crisis-hit villages have started leaving their villages due to water crisis. Local Narmada Jaishi of Wai village in Swamikartik Rural Municipality said people in her village were taking a long haul to the Karnali river after the local water sources dried up. “We are around 350 families in the village and all of us are fetching water from the Karnali River,” she said, adding water sources in her village had started drying up since December last year. Swamikartik Rural Municipality acting executive officer Kuber Shahi attributed the drying up of water sources to drought. “It was natural for the water sources to run dry given the long spell of drought; if this situation continues, it won’t be long before everyone from the village will be displaced,” he said. Water scarcity has also been reported in Pandavgufa Rural Municipality and Budhinanda Municipality.