BARA; As the water sources have dried up due to the long spell of drought, residents of Katarawa of Dumarwana-7 in Bara district are facing acute water shortage lately. Many hand pumps, wells and natural water taps have gone dry due to the lack of rainfall.

Hadamadevi Sapkota,a local, lamented that she was facing problem as her hand pump dried up. “I have to knock on my neighbours even to get drinking water after my hand pump went dry,” said Sapkota.

According to villagers, plantation of crops, especially of paddy saplings, had been badly affected in the lack of rainwater this season. Similarly, local farmer Prem Bhandari said that all his crops had been perched as there was no water to irrigate the fields.

According to the villagers, more than two dozen hand pumps of the village had dried up this year alone. They lamented as authorities have been least bothered to manage irrigation water to their farms. Around 5,000 people rely on agriculture as their livelihood.

The locals are demanding that the government declare the area a “draught hit” and provide necessary aid to the villagers.

Farmers elsewhere are also facing problem to cultivate land to plant paddy after there has been little or no rainfall this summer.