Advertisement

It was a dream come true for the residents of Badwan, a remote hilly village under Naxal-affected Adhaura block of Kaimur district of Bihar. Their joys knew no bounds when water flowed out of the handpumps, installed for the first time in the village.

The ecstatic tribal population sang paeans to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for addressing their century-old drinking water problem. Earlier, the villagers had to trek 4 to 5 kms to fetch potable water, each day of the year. All that has changed now.

The newly installed handpumps may solve another problem of the Badwan folks. They have found it difficult to get brides for their sons as parents of girls were reluctant to give their daughters in marriage to the boys of Badwan because the village had no source of drinking water.

Three of tribal priest Madan Mishra's five brothers have crossed the age of marriage as nobody in the plains or plateau was ready to marry their daughter into a hilly village without drinking water facility and an approach road. People of other villages feared that their daughters would have to spend their entire life fetching water from distant places.

Ex-mukhiya Ram Dayal Kharwar said that about 40 youth of the village over the age of 30-35 were unmarried because of this problem. Birendra Yadav, Ram Bali Kharwar, Shyam Chandra Yadav, Jitendra Yadav and several other middle-aged but unmarried men said that about 50 per cent of old men had remained unmarried because of the water crisis.

PHED Executive Engineer AP Ranjan said that he decided to install handpumps when told of the peculiar problem of the villagers.

But it was impossible to send the rig machine to Badwan without an approach road. However, the villagers came out in support and worked day and night to clear the hurdles and the machine finally reached Badwan and water was struck at 170-200 feet depth.

Villagers are now hoping not many of their male folks would die unmarried.