Kashipur block has always been notorious for epidemic diarrhea. Last year too number of villages suffered from this and it seems the situation has only marginally improved, if at all in these remote areas of the district. The district administration in the last year had on war footing, ensured the supply of safe drinking water to all the villages of the district after the epidemic. However some of the tube wells have become defunct and people are again forced to rely on the stream water. The pictures below are of the village Bamaniguda in the Godabali Panchayat of Kashipur, which has also reported the cases of blood mixed dysentery recently. The medical teams have for months not covered the area the villagers said. Recently naxals had killed to ex-public representatives in the GP and some govt servants have expressed apprehensions to visit these areas. However Collector Rayagada has rubbished these contentions and instructed the medical team to visit the area. BDO Rayagada has already visited and made an assessment of the problem and reported to Collector Rayagada. The problem mainly is because of the muddy water from the tubewell. RWSS officials have been instructed to ensure safe drinking water and a tube well is to be dug soon in that village, in addition to the two already there. However there are issues with tube wells in the sense that they are prone to get defunct and the quality of water from them has in many cases has resulted in tribal communities staying away from such sources. Unversalization of Pipe water Scheme (PWS) is the answer to all these problems and Rayagada district administration is working on that front
