SUMMER: No Water Supply, Adivasis Buying Purified Drinking Water Cans for Special Occasions

Dongargaon (Adilabad): Adivasis are buying cans-full of purified drinking water and use them for cooking too, especially for marriages and other social gatherings during the summer season in the Adilabad region.

This is to avoid diarrhoea and food poisoning during the marriage season.

Government-supplied potable drinking water is not available during summer season, when it is most needed, or the supply is insufficient for big gatherings, tribals said.

Many private companies have set up water plants in the tribal areas and supply purified drinking water in cans to the villages daily or in bulk for special occasions. On normal days, most Adivasis still depend on streams, rivulets, borewells and wells for drinking water and domestic purposes.

So many water supply companies have come up in almost all the mandal headquarters in the tribal areas of this region in recent times.

Adivasis say there were many instances of guests falling sick after they took food at marriages due to use of contaminated water collected from the local water bodies that was used in preparing the food.

Kova Bheem Rao of Dongargaon in Indravelli mandal said adivasis used to depend on the wells, local borewells, streams and rivulets for extra water for drinking and domestic purposes on special occasions but this caused health problems.

Adivasi leader Purka Bapu Rao said cans of cooled water are sold for Rs.40 and purified water for Rs.20. Unless the government provides drinking water for these areas, poor adivasis will have to keep spending money for this purpose, he said.