Nepalgunj, February 11

Locals are facing drinking water crisis as Drinking Water Corporation could not supply water to the new settlements, including in the Karkando area, of Nepalgunj sub-metropolis in Banke.

Locals have to depend on ground water. Only very few people can afford bottled water.

Maya Lamichhane, a local, said that they had been drinking ground water for the past two years. “There is no guarantee when the water corporation will supply drinking water to the area,” she added.

The corporation had constructed an overhead water tank with a capacity of 425,000 litres in Karkando-based Bhagawati Tole last year.

Chairman of Ward No 18 Dipak Dhungana said the corporation had yet to drop water into the tank. “The corporation has been searching for land to construct other infrastructure required to supply drinking water,” he said. Dhungana said due to delay in supplying water, locals were compelled to drink contaminated water.

Most of the wards of Nepalgunj sub-metropolis do not have drinking water facility. Settlements in Tejnagar, Bus Park, Surjigaun, southern areas of District Police Office, Koreanpur, Bhrikuti Nagar, Bokegaun, Gosaingaun, Adarshanagar, Belashpur, and Ram Nagar, among other places are reeling under acute shortage of drinking water.

Chief of the administration department at the corporation Buddhi Prakash KC said the corporation had been distributing 30 lakh litres of water to the sub-metropolis on a daily basis.  “The demand of drinking water is high, but the corporation cannot expand water supply due to lack of budget,” he informed.