A village in Murshidabad’s Farakka is having to drink water from the local feeder canal for the past 10 days as both its tube wells are defunct.

As many as 1,500 residents of Bonidapukur village of Mahadebnagar gram panchayat depend on the feeder canal connecting Farakka barrage and Ahiran village, around 1km away, for potable water.

“Our village has two tube wells set up by the NTPC. This area has a stone bed barely 10 feet below. So repairs without NTPC’s expertise are not possible,” said resident Abdul Bashir. “Rural authorities have turned a blind eye to our problem despite written appeals to the block office and public engineering department.”

Bonidapukur stands between a stretch of the NH12 and the 41-km-long Farakka feeder canal, which sends water from the Ganga to the Bhagirathi.

“We are worried about health as everyone is drinking feeder canal water,” said resident Masuma Saddam. Jasimuddin, a doctor at Murshidabad Medical College, said: “River water should not be drunk untreated. Hazardous waste and corpses are disposed of in rivers.”

Trinamul-run Mahadebna g ar g ram panchayat pradhan Ruksana Biwi and Farakka BDO Junaid Ahmed said they had not received any report in this connection. “The rural body doesn’t have know-how for such tube well repairs. Only the NTPC does,” Biwi said.