Ekendra Giri, a 28-year-old man from Chhapdanda in ward 12 of Mangalsen Municipality in Achham, was thrilled to learn last year that the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office was planning to fund the construction of eight public taps in Chhapdanda.
Giri’s joy didn’t last long. Even though the local consumer committee has built the taps, none of them supply water, because the water source that fed the reservoir dried up merely two weeks after the taps were inaugurated. It turns out that the contractor had warned the committee about the source spring drying up, but they disregarded the alarm.
With a population of around 750 as per the municipal records, Chhapdanda village has been grappling with water shortage for decades, according to Giri.
Similarly, there are very few active natural springs, and they also have been gradually drying up over the past few years.
“This is a hilly area with difficult topography where the natural springs slowly started drying up around five years ago, which created a major water shortage in the village. Currently, people have to walk for hours up and down the hills to fetch water from springs,” said Giri. “Although they constructed eight new taps, not a single one dispenses water, all because of the negligence of the consumer committee,” Giri added.
In the last fiscal year, the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, Sudurpaschim, allocated Rs1 million to build eight public taps to address the drinking water crisis in Chhapdanda. The plan was to build a tank to collect water from a spring and distribute it to the taps. The project was completed by the local consumer committee under the supervision of the Water and Sanitation Division Office, Achham. The committee's chairman, Ramesh Bista, chairman of the consumer committee of the project, had received the Rs1 million from the Water and Sanitation Division Office.
Meanwhile, Man Bahadur Budha of ward 5 of Ramroshan Rural Municipality in the district who was tasked with the construction of the taps by the consumer committee said he has yet to receive a payment of Rs500,000 from the committee.
“It took my men a month and a half to complete the project. I paid for all the construction materials and equipment and employed 14 workers. After completing the project, I went to the chairman of the committee multiple times asking for payment, but Ramesh Bista has yet to settle the dues,” said Budha.
According to Budha, he makes a living by taking construction contracts, and for the construction of any project, he obtains the necessary materials from suppliers on credit, including the payment of workers.
After failing to receive payment from Ramesh, Budha approached the Water and Sanitation Division Office. But the officials there told him that a payment of Rs1 million had already been made to the consumer committee. They told him that he was appointed by the consumer committee, so they cannot help him.
“If I am unable to pay the workers and suppliers, it will damage my reputation, making it difficult to find work in the future. Ramesh received Rs1 million from the Water and Sanitation Division Office, but I only asking for Rs500,000. Yet, he refuses to pay me,” said Budha.
Budha further said that during the construction of the project, he saw that the spring of the project was on the verge of drying up, and he also informed Ramesh about this, but the concern was ignored.
Bam Rawat, a local resident and member of the consumer committee, said that he does not know much about the payment, contract, or the drinking water project, because he joined the committee at Ramesh’s insistence, without much personal interest.
“Even though I was not interested in the committee, I decided to join because the project would benefit the entire village,” said Rawat.
"Later, I found that the project would not last long because the spring feeding the project tank was drying up,” he said, adding, “At one meeting of the consumer committee, it was decided that they would use another spring to supply water to the village, but the other spring also dried up,” Rawat added.
Like Rawat, Giri, and Budha, the whole village accuses Ramesh of embezzling money and arbitrarily making the project’s decisions.
According to Mukesh Sodari, head of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Division Office, Achham, the ministry allocated Rs 1 million for the project, and we handed over the fund to the committee after the completion of the project.
“The project was started after conducting a survey, but unfortunately, the spring dried up just 15 days after the work was completed. Then an agreement was reached with the consumer committee chair to find another spring for water supply, but the new spring also dried up,” said Sodari. "We are working to reassess the project and identify alternative springs to resume water supply as soon as possible,” Sodari added.
Committee chair Bista, meanwhile, claims that all the allegations against him are false.
“The first spring and the other both dried up due to landslides. I didn’t pay the contractor initially because I intended to pay him later as I know him personally. Now that he has been publicly defaming and making false accusations against me, I told him that I won’t pay him,” said Ramesh.
Nara Bahadur Bista, the principal of the Chhapdanda-based Parvati Secondary School water shortage has affected his school too, just like the village. He also noted that one of the eight taps were set aside for the school.
There are around 350 students from grade 1 to grade 10 at the school.
“Due to the water shortage, most of the students stay dehydrated, and with no running water in the school toilets, most students relieve themselves in nature. The project’s failure came as a big disappointment to us too,” said Nar Bahadur, while accusing the consumer committee chair of embezzling funds.
“It was not the landslide that caused the springs to dry up. He was fully aware of the situation,” said Nara Bahadur, adding, “I think the committee was formed only to embezzle Rs1 million. And since he is an influential person, he faces no repercussions.”
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