National
Water shortage in Musahar settlement
Seventy Musahar families living in Jugauliya settlement of Gujara Municipality-8 in Rautahat are reeling under a shortage of drinking water for a long time.Shiva Puri
Seventy Musahar families living in Jugauliya settlement of Gujara Municipality-8 in Rautahat are reeling under a shortage of drinking water for a long time.
There are three taps in the settlement and only two of them are in working order.
The villagers are compelled to wait in long queues, for hours on end daily just to get a pot of water.
Raj Kumari Majhi, a local woman, said they have been dealing with water shortage for a long time now.
“We do not have money or the resources to resolve the problem of water shortage,” she said.
As the water collected from the village taps are not enough, the villagers send their children to a nearby stream every morning to fetch water.
Household errands and chores have kept hundreds of Musahar children out of school, even though the government has been offering them free education.
Many Musahar parents say when they are living in scarcity of food and water, sending their children to school is least of their priority.
There are around 14,000 Musahar people, including 5,000 children,in Rautahat.
Almost all adult Musahar population in the district are unemployed or do not have steady source of income.
Kiran Nidhi Tiwari, the administrative officer of the Gujara Municipality, said they were planning to bring out a programme to uplift the living standard of Musahar people in the area.