About 60 per cent of the hand driven tube wells went out of order when the water level has fallen abnormally in most of the villages in six Jhenaidah upazilas.
The people have been moving here and there in search of drinking water during the severe heat in spring season. The well to do families has been installing submersible pumps to lift water from the depth in the ground.
After visiting Kabirpur, Jhaudia and some other villages of Shailkupa municipality, correspondent found that most of the hand driven tube wells went out of order. Locals were trying to lift water with the hand tube wells, but failed.
Kakali Khatun, a homemaker of Kabirpur village in Shailkupa when contacted said they are deprived of even a drop of water from her hand tube well for last two weeks. She was bound to go to nearest river for water, she said. Baby Khatun, another homemaker expressed the same opinion.
Rezaul Islam of Shailkupa village in Jhenaidah said as his tube well failed to provide any water for last two weeks, all domestic activities have ben hampering badly. He has been installing a submersible pumps to lift water from the depth in the ground.
According to an engineer of the department of public health engineering (DPHE) in Jhenaidah, the number of hand driven non-deep tube wells was about 2.05 lakh in six upazilas of the district. Of them about 35 thousand tube wells (TW) are located in the municipal areas.
The sources said the hand driven tube wells users might receive water about 24 feet depth in the ground. But the level of water in the ground had dropped to 35 to 38 feet.
As a result, about 50 percent tube wells went out of order to ensure water.
The situation was graved when the severe drought was prevailing in the south-western districts in last few months. Only natural rainfall might solve the crisis.
