People living in Yashok Bazaar, Sayabrumba and Ranigaun in Kummayak Village Council of Panchthar district are reeling under acute water shortage, as sources have dried up. 

Only a few water sources are left now, which are too far from the human settlements. 

Villagers had collected rainwater in artificial ponds last monsoon, but it was 

sufficient only for six months. 

People these days have been forced to buy water from private suppliers who have been collecting water from the Siwakhola stream and the Tamor river and selling it to locals.

“The suppliers charge three rupees for a litre of water. We are left with no option than to buy water from these private suppliers as local sources have dried up,” said Devendra Kumar Lawati, chairman of the Dry Area Drinking Water Concern Committee. 

Kummayak Village Council is in the south of Phidim, the district headquarters of Panchthar. 

Although the government had started construction of Tamor Electric Pumping Water Supply Project, it is yet to be completed. The government had earlier declared Kummayak Village Council a dry area and decided to bring an alternative plan to provide drinking water to the people of the affected areas.