Sitting on her knees, a young tribal woman is seen collecting water flowing from the openings along the hill slope, using a small vessel at Killoguda village, around 10 km from Araku, in the Agency area of the district. She is filling water containers, placed all around her by other women. It took about 15 minutes to fill a medium-sized vessel.
The task of the other women, who have to carry the pots home, is not simple either. They have to tread the slippery pathway to reach the ground above even as they balance the pots on their heads. A single wrong step will send them rolling down the slope. It’s a different matter that such a mishap is a rarity.
This ‘art’ of collecting fresh water from natural streams has been handed down to them by their forefathers. The collection of water is a daily chore for the women and girls. Their day begins around 6 a.m. and ends around noon. In some places like Pappuduvalasa village and PTG (Primitive Tribal Group) Colony at Araku, women walk two km or more to fetch drinking water.
While there are no borewells at the PTG Colony, the available ones at Pappuduvalasa are not being used for drinking purposes. The tribal people are unable to kick the habit of depending on natural water sources for their needs.
“Our people feel that natural spring water is safe and do not even boil it before consuming the water. My father never used to bother about the presence of insects in drinking water and used to say that they have become a part of our lives,” recalls Killo Ramachandra of Killoguda.
“The water from the bores is tasteless and the yield is very less,” say Kundamma and Seetha of Pappuduvalasa.
Pangi Subba Rao, a tribal farmer of Araku PTG Colony, says:
“There is no borewell in our hamlet and our pleas for one went unheeded.” “We have sanctioned Rs. 1.5 crore for provision of drinking water in the interior tribal villages, wherever there is no protected drinking water. We have plans to provide mineral water to tribal habitations in the near future,” Minister for Tribal Welfare Ravela Kishore Babu told The Hindu , when his attention was drawn to the issue.
