RAMECHHAP: Residents of Pakarbas VDC in the district are compelled to buy drinking water as water sources in the area have been depleting due to prolonged draught.

Trucks ferry water to the village from Tamakoshi River. The truck owners charge 80 paisa to one rupee per liter of water. Krishna Poudel of Pakarbas-4 said the locals throng around the trucks as only few water ferrying trucks operate in the area. Poudel, who is also a transport entrepreneur, said mostly drinking water is sold in ward no 4, 5 and 9 of the VDC.

Former ward no 4 chairman Khem Bahadur Khatri said that villagers were compelled to buy drinking water as the sources has been depleting gradually. There is scarcity of water in almost every wards of the VDC.

Saying that the villagers do not have alternative to buying water, Dhyan Bahadur Moktan of Pakarbas-8 said, "Villagers come out from their houses with money and empty vessels in their hands when water trucks approach the village.''

Meanwhile, locals are all set to organise a Maha Yagya to collect funds for the drinking water project. Ramkrishna Dhungel of ward no 6 said, "We are going to do something on our own. The political parties are apathetic towards our problems though some locals are representing in the central level of different political parties.''