Even though summer is about three months away, the underground water table has considerably depleted at Adityapur township in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district, causing a majority of the bore-wells in the area to get defunct.

As a result of the bore-wells turning useless due to the exhaustion of the underground water, a serious drinking water crisis has emerged in the tiny township which has a population of over three lakhs.

Concerned with the untimely drinking water crisis in Adityapur, a local NGO, Jan Kalyan Morcha (JKM) has urged the regional office, Jharkhand Industrial Area Development Authority (JIADA) Adityapur to provide a minimum of five water tankers under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme in the residential areas of the township.

Om Prakash, president, JKM, has in a letter addressed to the secretary of JIADA (Adityapur) to provide water tanks to the households in Adityapur because it is due to the sprawling industrial estate adjoining the residential area that underground water table has depleted, causing the majority of the bore-wells getting defunct.

"Large numbers of residential colonies have mushroomed in the recent past in Adityapur, increasing the consumption of resources of underground water through bore-wells. But the bulk of the underground water is being utilised by over 1,500 industrial units. Hence as these industries have been set up under the command of JIADA (Adityapur), the latter has to bear the responsibility for doing something toward the redressal of the drinking water crisis," said Om Prakash while talking to The Telegraph Online.

The JKM president stated that the Adityapur Municipal Corporation has started supplying drinking water through tankers, but given the population's volume in Adityapur, the civic body will not be able to meet the demand of all the households.

"The JIADA (Adityapur) must, therefore, arrange at least five water-tankers having a capacity of 12,000 litres and start the drinking water supply in the parched area as early as possible," said the president.

Of over 50,000 households in Adityapur, only 8,000 get the facility of tap water whereas the remaining 42,000 households have to depend largely on bore-wells. Though a mega drinking water project is going on, but that project is not likely to be completed before mid-2022.

Meanwhile, mayor of Adityapur Municipal Corporation, Vinod Srivastava confirmed about the beginning of drinking water-crisis in Adityapur.

"Drinking water crisis has started hitting Adityapur township even before the advent of summer. We are yet to ascertain the reason behind this phenomenon but we have to cope up the situation effectively," said Srivastava while talking to The Telegraph Online.