Villages in Gujarat facing acute water shortage

Patan (Gujarat), Apr 16 (ANI): Residents of Dilgapura and Kanij villages in Gujarat's Patan District are facing acute water shortage and have to travel several kilometres to fetch drinking water.

The residents are also facing health problems, as the quality of water is bad.

"The problem with water here is...the main problem is the quality of water...excessive quantity of fluoride and salt in water...because of fluoride and salty water, health is immensely affected," said Rajendra Patel, a social worker.

Villagers have complained that their animals have also been affected by the poor quality of water.

"As per the water available, every animal is producing two litres of less milk. Therefore, there are a lot of problems...animals are producing less. There is no water here. There are a lot of problems. So, when we told this to the administration or the government; they said that now there is no problem at all. Water will be available. All this will happen...they are saying this," said Nanubhai Nalodra, the president of Sarvodaya Parivar Trust, which offers education in many sectors such as literacy, farming, weaving among others.

The state administration has, however, claimed that it provides filtered water of River Narmada to all the districts in Gujarat.

Nitin Patel, Gujarat's Minister of Water Supply and Water Resources said that due to less rainfall, water levels have decreased. He added that water is being supplied to every village. (ANI)