Senior officials and engineers, headed by Jhargram district magistrate Sunil Agrawal, visited two villages in Belpahari on Wednesday for a solution to the drinking water crisis that residents complained to chief minister Mamata Banerjee about on Tuesday.

Mamata had visited Kurchibani and Malabati villages on Tuesday on her way back to Jhargram town from a state government event at Belpahari where villagers had told her of their drinking water supply problems.

“I had a meeting with the DM and the SP on the problem of drinking water in those villages. They will get drinking water supply by today (Wednesday)...,” Mamata told journalists in Jhargram before leaving for Calcutta on Wednesday afternoon.

Mamata promised individual piped drinking water connections for all by 2024- end, but as this was some time away, she asked officials to find a way out immediately in Kurchibani and Malabati at least.

“We will set up a pump and reservoir to supply water. In one village, there is a street connection for piped drinking water, but it is not enough. So we have ensured 24/7 water supply,” said Agrawal, adding he hoped “supply would start from Wednesday evening”.

“In another village, we will set up a submersible pump for which the process has begun,” he added.

Officials said drinking water was a problem in almost all villages in Jhargram’s Belpahari, Purulia’s Bandwan and Bankura’s Raipur located in the hilly patches of Chhotanagpur plateau.

BJP money query

Mamata on Wednesday questioned the source of the BJP’s funds that it spends on elections and wondered if central agencies such as the ED or the CBI would bother to investigate the matter.