Nearly 200 families living in the Pathirennegama village, Moragollagama in the Polpithigama DS Division are faced with an acute shortage of water.
As a result of their repeated requests, a water supply project was inaugurated by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board in collaboration with the Red Cross with the financial assistance of the villagers, in September 2020. The construction work on this project was scheduled to be completed in June 2021. According to the villagers Rs.1.2 million had been collected from them by the authorities. But the work on this project has come to a virtual standstill. Ven. Dharmakeerthi Sri Ananda Thera, Registrar of the Polpithigama Shasanarakshaka
Balamandalaya, said that there are four temples in the area and the dayakas of these temples are greatly inconvenienced due to the shortage of water. A water storage tank has already been built and pipelines have been laid. Water meters too have been fixed.
“The dayakas have to buy bottled water under this situation. This is a very sad state of affairs. The responsible authorities should take immediate action to address this issue,” the Thera said.
When the Daily News inquired from the Kurunegala District Coordinating Officer of the ‘Wewgam Pubuduwa Project’ Athula Prasad on this matter, he said that it was very difficult to dig drains on time as there were many rocks. “We had to obtain permits from the authorities to blast the rocks. Then the Covid pandemic spread. Now we had to face the fuel problem. Due to these reasons the work on this project has been dragging on. Although the contractors are willing to complete the work, they are unable to operate their machinery due to lack of fuel. Anyway we will find solutions to these problems and try our best to complete the work within two months,” he added.
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