PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
The Daily Star
May 20, 2006
Mrinalini Chakma, a middle-aged indigenous lady of Meghla in Sadar upazila, had just fetched a pot of water from a stream more than one kilometre off her house. By evening, she has to go to the stream five or six times with the pot to bring water for drinking and other household work for the night and the next day. She has to do the arduous task, as there is no water source like tube wells, ring wells, or rainwater harvesting system near her house on the hilly land. There are such facilities installed by the government or non-government organisations at some 'suitable' places of Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari districts in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Only a small portion of the hill people have access to such water sources while a great number of those are dysfunctional. Like Mrinalini Chakma, most of the hill people who use stream water for drinking are not aware that water from such sources should be boiled and cooled before drinking. "I don't feel like boiling the stream water, as it is clear like any tube well water," Mrinalini told this correspondent visiting the hill district.
Hlu Ching Murma, a youth leader of Thuaingo Para, a village in the other part of the same upazila, said in the village there are three functional ring wells -- two installed by the NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation and one by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE). People of the village, which has relatively good communications for the government authorities or NGOs, are more fortunate than those of the other areas of CHT -- at least in terms of having access to drinking water, he said. But four other such wells in the village are dysfunctional, as those were installed in improper places where digging at deeper levels is needed to get water, he said, adding, "These four ring wells, installed by the DPHE in association with some NGOs, have not been repaired for long."
"Many of the people in the area had to suffer from diarrhoeal diseases and some even died due to lack of pure drinking water before setting up ring wells in the village," said Ching Murma. NGO Forum officials visiting the water and sanitation projects in Bandarban quoted the DPHE officials of Rangamati as saying that around 75 percent of the water sources like ring wells, rain water harvesting system, deep set pumps, gravity flow system, and infiltration gallery, which are installed by the DPHE in assistance with NGOs, are not functional.
On the other hand, Executive Engineer of Bandarban DPHE Mohammad Mostafa said of the 6,158 water sources installed in Bandarban, 5,004 are functional. The executive engineer, however, admitted that there are fund constraints for repairing the dysfunctional water sources in the hilly districts while parts of many water sources installed in the public places were stolen due to lack of maintenance. Besides, some areas of the hill districts are so remote that it is very hard for us to reach and install or repair the installed water sources, he said.
Putting aside the debate over the number of functional or dysfunctional water sources, the important matter to consider is that majority of the CHT people are deprived of pure drinking water and sanitation facilities, making them suffer from diarrhoeal diseases. Sanitation and hygiene are deeply linked to access of pure drinking water, SMA Rashid, executive director of NGO Forum said, adding that his organisation initiated a 3-year project in 2004 for installing suitable water sources and sanitary latrines in the 72 villages in the three hill districts. Twelve local NGOs are implementing the project funded by the European Commission (EC). A three-member EC team during their May 14 visit to Bandarban appreciated the NGO Forum's style of work that includes installing water sources and creating mass awareness on sanitation.
Education, especially for the children, is the key to creating awareness among the hills people, Dr Stefan Lock, second secretary to the delegation of the EC to Bangladesh, said, adding, "Once they are informed of their basic needs, they will be aware of those and try to achieve qualities to meet the demands."
The Daily Star
May 20, 2006
Mrinalini Chakma, a middle-aged indigenous lady of Meghla in Sadar upazila, had just fetched a pot of water from a stream more than one kilometre off her house. By evening, she has to go to the stream five or six times with the pot to bring water for drinking and other household work for the night and the next day. She has to do the arduous task, as there is no water source like tube wells, ring wells, or rainwater harvesting system near her house on the hilly land. There are such facilities installed by the government or non-government organisations at some 'suitable' places of Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari districts in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). Only a small portion of the hill people have access to such water sources while a great number of those are dysfunctional. Like Mrinalini Chakma, most of the hill people who use stream water for drinking are not aware that water from such sources should be boiled and cooled before drinking. "I don't feel like boiling the stream water, as it is clear like any tube well water," Mrinalini told this correspondent visiting the hill district.
Hlu Ching Murma, a youth leader of Thuaingo Para, a village in the other part of the same upazila, said in the village there are three functional ring wells -- two installed by the NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation and one by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE). People of the village, which has relatively good communications for the government authorities or NGOs, are more fortunate than those of the other areas of CHT -- at least in terms of having access to drinking water, he said. But four other such wells in the village are dysfunctional, as those were installed in improper places where digging at deeper levels is needed to get water, he said, adding, "These four ring wells, installed by the DPHE in association with some NGOs, have not been repaired for long."
"Many of the people in the area had to suffer from diarrhoeal diseases and some even died due to lack of pure drinking water before setting up ring wells in the village," said Ching Murma. NGO Forum officials visiting the water and sanitation projects in Bandarban quoted the DPHE officials of Rangamati as saying that around 75 percent of the water sources like ring wells, rain water harvesting system, deep set pumps, gravity flow system, and infiltration gallery, which are installed by the DPHE in assistance with NGOs, are not functional.
On the other hand, Executive Engineer of Bandarban DPHE Mohammad Mostafa said of the 6,158 water sources installed in Bandarban, 5,004 are functional. The executive engineer, however, admitted that there are fund constraints for repairing the dysfunctional water sources in the hilly districts while parts of many water sources installed in the public places were stolen due to lack of maintenance. Besides, some areas of the hill districts are so remote that it is very hard for us to reach and install or repair the installed water sources, he said.
Putting aside the debate over the number of functional or dysfunctional water sources, the important matter to consider is that majority of the CHT people are deprived of pure drinking water and sanitation facilities, making them suffer from diarrhoeal diseases. Sanitation and hygiene are deeply linked to access of pure drinking water, SMA Rashid, executive director of NGO Forum said, adding that his organisation initiated a 3-year project in 2004 for installing suitable water sources and sanitary latrines in the 72 villages in the three hill districts. Twelve local NGOs are implementing the project funded by the European Commission (EC). A three-member EC team during their May 14 visit to Bandarban appreciated the NGO Forum's style of work that includes installing water sources and creating mass awareness on sanitation.
Education, especially for the children, is the key to creating awareness among the hills people, Dr Stefan Lock, second secretary to the delegation of the EC to Bangladesh, said, adding, "Once they are informed of their basic needs, they will be aware of those and try to achieve qualities to meet the demands."
posted by Ven. Pragya Jyoti at 2:34 AM
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