A water treatment plant has been under construction for 13 years in Alikadam Upazila of Bandarban where hundreds of people face water crisis during the dry season. Last year, the authorities inaugurated it, though the construction was not completed, and supplied water to the local health complex for a few hours that day. Then it stopped operating.
Recently, the authorities have conducted miking for customers, but the disgruntled people did not respond well. In such a situation, Many fear that the plant, built at a cost of Tk11 crore, will fail.
The Directorate of Public Health Engineering started the project on June 11, 2011, to meet the needs of the locals in Mia Para, near Alikadam Upazila Parishad. So far, around Tk11.5 crore has been spent on this project in two phases.
Initially, in 2011, the work on this project stopped after the construction of two reservoirs at a cost of Tk2.15 crore. On September 12, 2020, the Planning Commission again allocated Tk9.46 crore.
The project was scheduled to be completed in June 2022. Bir Bahadur U Shwe Sing, the then state minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, inaugurated the plant on April 12 last year. However, after a few hours of water supply to the health complex on the day of the inauguration, it stopped working in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, three months ago, announcements were made using loudspeakers asking the customer to take a connection from the plant. The fee is fixed at Tk10,000 per line. But the locals did not show interest due to doubts about whether water supply would be ensured regularly. Hence, no one applied for a connection.
Then, the authorities halved the fee to Tk5,000 and reduced it again to set Tk2,000 as the connection charge. At that time, 50 people had submitted applications. However, the DPHE authorities have not been able to start supplying water to these applicants.
Nurul Haque, a resident of Saber Miapara, said that there is a severe water shortage in this area during the dry season. “In the past years, I have had to travel around in search of a tubewell for a pitcher of water. Still, there is no effective action to solve the water crisis.”
Manghla Pru Tanchangya, a resident of Ward No. 4 of Upazila Sadar, said: "The problem of water will remain with us forever. Even in the last 14 years, the water crisis has not been solved. What is the guarantee that I will get regular water from the refinery in the future?”
A doctor at the Upazila health centre, who did not wish to be named, said: “The water crisis has been a common phenomenon in the hospital for years. After the inauguration of the plant, everyone was disappointed as the supply was stopped after a few hours."
However, DPHE Engineer Mohammad Halim claimed that the work on the water treatment plant had been completed, but the locals were not interested in getting connections.
Contacted, Alikadam Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Ataul Gani Osmani said: "The work is almost finished. Earlier, miking was done, but water was not supplied due to a lack of customers. Later, the connection charge will be reduced.”
