SANGUEM: The villagers residing at Valkini Colony No. 1 in Sanguem are reeling under the successive government’s failure to provide basic facilities like Sauchalay to the village, despite tireless assurance by the local politician.
When the Government has been claiming that the State to be open defecation free, almost 90 per cent of the households at Valkini Colony No 1 do not have Sauchalaya and are compelled to answer nature’s call in the open surroundings.
A villager Navlo Batashe informed Herald that except for around ten households, the remaining over ninety households do not have Sauchalaya.
Now it’s a double whammy for the fated villagers who would relieve themselves in the open as the Forest Department compounded the forest area with laterite stone compound wall.
People had applied for Sauchalaya under the Swach Bharat Scheme but are yet to get one claimed Shelke.
Shelke said that on being asked the Panchayat member for the delay in sanctioning the Sauchalayas, the local governing body passed the buck to PWD authorities.
On account of no individual Sauchalaya’s, even relatives think twice before coming to stay at their houses, said Shelke
He regretted that the villagers are not in a position to construct the Sauchalayas at their own cost and so depend on the allocation and construction of Sauchalaya’s under the government run scheme.
Another villager Savi Lambor complained of the irregular drinking water supply in the village. Lambor said that the village is supplied drinking water from the open well using electric pumps. However whenever the pumps are broken, the villagers are left without regular water supply as the department takes their own time in getting the pumps repaired and regulate drinking water supply in the village.
The villagers also complained of lack of proper drainage system in the village. In the absence of water drains in the village, rain water is getting accumulated on the main road and in open areas surrounding people’s houses. Lambor complained of rain water entering into houses which are located by the side of the road.
Villagers also pointed out that even at places where there are water drains they are left open which leads to villagers falling into the open drains during night time and during monsoon when the drains overflow. The village also lacks proper street lighting and this makes the villagers use the remote road to their village a risky affair, informed Bombi Shelke.
