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Sticky, slimy water irks flood-hit cluster villages

JAMMU: Five years after the Jammu region was hit by devastating floods, water across several affected villages is still unsuitable for drinking. At several villages surrounding the Tawi river, villagers are not drinking underground water.

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Vikram Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, June 26

Five years after the Jammu region was hit by devastating floods, water across several affected villages is still unsuitable for drinking. At several villages surrounding the Tawi river, villagers are not drinking underground water.

As many as 45 cluster villages of Jammu (west), across the Phallian Mandal bridge, which were the worst affected due to the 2014 floods, are complaining of dirty water coming out of hand pumps.

“Our village heads have reported the matter to the irrigation and flood control department. Some officials had come a few months ago and taken the samples. After that, no action was taken in this regard,” said Rani Chauhan, a resident of Sumb village at Phallian Mandal.

The villagers said some of the hand pumps were producing normal water, but in others, water had turned slimy and bad to taste since the past few months. Even taking bath in the water produced an itching sensation in the body.

“Some hand pumps produce dirty water while others are normal to drink and bathe,” said Somnath, a farmer at Toph. The sticky and slimy water is either being used to bathe animals or for irrigation purposes, he added.

An official of the I&FC department said since the floods ravaged the cluster villages, which remained submerged for many days, the ground water had seeped through sub-surface sources into the underground, taking along chemicals and fertilisers, turning the water dirty at different hand pump sources.

MP Singh, executive engineer, public health engineering department (rural), said he had not received any such complaint but will take cognizance of the matter.

“I will constitute a team of experts to visit the sites at hand pumps which are producing dirty water. If need be, the pipes of hand pumps will be pushed little more into the ground for fresh water as the area is a wetland,” he said, adding that the reason for water turning sticky would also be worked out.

About 300 people had died and 25 had suffered injuries due to the devastating floods that battered the state in September 2014.

Apart from the damage caused to 2,61,361 structures, 3.27 lakh hectares of agricultural land and 3.96 lakh hectares of horticulture land also suffered damage.

The 45 cluster villages of Jammu (west) were the worst affected as these villages are situated in the low-lying areas of Jammu district and are encircled by the Tawi river, which is prone to floods in monsoon.

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