Despite tall claims about development in rural areas, hundreds of villages do not have access to safe drinking water. It was revealed during a joint survey conducted by The UNICEF and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Univesity-Etcherla in 240 villages of Srikakulam district. It is observed that consumption of contaminated water is leading to many diseases among the villagers.
Various teams collected water samples and found that bacterial contamination is more in majority of the villages. As many as 2.91 lakh people were contacted during the survey conducted between January and March, 2014.
The university Vice-Chancellor H. Lajipathirai, The UNICEF State Coordinator Ruth Leano and others reviewed the preliminary report which was compiled after the submission of survey details by various teams. Mrs. Ruth Leano said that she was looking forward for the complete results of the university-UNICEF combined survey so that it would be replicated in other areas with the support of NGOs and universities. She also said that the university should study on how to advance social norms and bring attitudinal changes towards a better society.
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Dr. Lajipathirai hoped that the government would respond positively over the revelations and improve sanitation and ensure safe drinking water facility .