In December last year, the United States-based National Center for Biotechnology Information released a report saying 18 out of Bihar’s 38 districts have arsenic contamination in groundwater, threatening a population of one crore.
In several villages of poll-bound Bihar, cancer due to arsenic and other skin issues are a major worry rather than Covid-19. India Today visited one such village, Tilak Rai Ke Hata in Buxar district along the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border, where residents say at least a dozen people have lost their lives to cancer in the last few months.
Located about 160 kms from Patna, the river Ganga brushes past the village. But Tilak Rai Ke Hata has been facing high arsenic contamination in water for 15 years now, and villagers say politicians are least bothered about their problems. Leave alone doing something for their health, politicians do not even come to ask for votes, they say.
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Most villagers have black and white patches on their skin, and hands that have turned yellow after using arsenic-filled water for years. The groundwater here is also yellowish in colour due to high arsenic concentration. As survival without water is impossible, most are forced to drink it, knowing well that it is slowly killing them inside.
A resident, Rajkumar Yadav, removes his shirt to show how his upper body has patches all over. “No one cares for us. No elected representative comes to us to ask about our well-being. Agencies are aware about the high arsenic level, as samples have been collected numerous times, but nothing has been done so far,” he laments.
(Photo: India Today)
In fact, government agencies are fully aware about the high-risk groundwater in the area. They have marked most hand-pumps in the vicinity in red, showing the water is not fit to use. They have also installed a water ATM and deep borewell to bring out cleaner non-contaminated water.
However, India Today found that the water ATM, costing Rs 10 lakh and which was installed only last year, has become a junkyard now. Not only is it redundant, but the complex is so ill-maintained that algae can be seen everywhere. The borewell, installed two years back, has never worked. We found it locked and villagers say it has remained the same way since it was installed.
The problem started some 15 years ago when villagers started complaining about minor skin issues and muscle pain. A team of scientists had visited and collected water samples from several villages in the vicinity.
The amount of arsenic was around 300 micrograms per litre water then, which has now increased to more than 600 micrograms in some places. A nearby village called Asha Padri is facing a similar situation.
(Photo: India Today)
Incidentally, the village comes under Brahampur assembly constituency of Buxar parliamentary constituency. Buxar is represented by MoS health at the Centre, Ashwini Kumar Choubey. The MLA, Shambhu Nath Yadav, belongs to RJD. Villagers complain they have never seen either of them for years now, and no one even pays a visit to the village, leave alone solving the water problem.
Villagers are left to fend for themselves. A 64-year-old resident, Ram Vrikash Rai, told India Today, “I’m facing skin problems for several years. I can’t walk properly; even my liver is damaged. I took medicines every day, which is difficult to afford.”
We found men carrying water containers. When asked, one of them, Mithun Yadav, responded, “We have to purchase water. A 10-litre container costs Rs 10 and we have to purchase at least two containers every day to keep going.”
(Photo: India Today)
Most poor villagers are unable to afford it.
Another local solution was found by some doctors in Patna. Villagers have bought a water purifier comprising four chambers one for iron nails, another for sand, and the other two for small and big gravels to purify water.
But with elections round the corner, everyone in the village has the same question in mind when elected representatives are non-responsive to their problems, why they should go out to vote? And hence, many of them are planning to boycott the elections this time.