COX'S BAZAR, Nov 3: The Rohingyas who arrived in Bangladesh following the recent turmoil in their country and have taken shelter at different slums across the district, are suffering from acute water scarcity.
Each of the Rohingya family had its own sources of water in Myanmar. They never had to face trouble for water. Even they did not know what water scarcity is.
But, around 10 lakh Rohingyas who arrived in Bangladesh in the last two months have been struggling for water. There is shortage of drinking water but also there is shortage of water for other purposes too.
In the meantime, different local and foreign organisations have installed around 3,500 tube-wells across the vast hilly tracts of Kutupalong and Balukhali areas under Ukhia upazila. Despite this, this huge Rohingya community people are suffering from water scarcity. Besides, around 25 per cent of the tube-wells have got damaged after only one month.
While visiting Rohingya camps, it was found that around 30 to 40 Rohingyas were crowding around one tube-well. Some of them were bathing while some were found to wash household items. Around 25 to 50 families use one tub-well.
A Rohingya Abdul Malek, 50, who came to bath at one of the tube-wells said, "The current problem here is water crisis. Though there is a small canal beside the nearby hill, the wastages from the surrounding toilets fall there, and so the water is unusable. For collecting water, we have to depend on these tube-wells from morning till night."
Safia Begum, 40, has come to Bangladesh from Myanmar along with her husband and five children. She said, "We had two ponds at our house in Myanmar and we used the water behind all purposes. We never thought that we will have to struggle for water like this. Due to water crisis, we cannot bath regularly. As a result, other household works remain unfinished. Besides, we have to wait in line for relief."
It was known that around 3,500 tube-wells have been installed at the Rohingya camps here so far, but around 25 per cent of them have become damaged. Only for any part worth Tk 50 or Tk 100, the whole tube-well might have got out of order.
On the other hand, the Rohingyas first took shelter at Kutupalong, Balukhali, Thaingkhali, Plongkhali and other areas where different local and foreign organisations installed tube-wells in an unplanned way. But, recently the army and BGB deported them on the government-fixed 3,000 acres of forest land. As a result, the tube-wells have remained unused at the deserted places.
Meanwhile, water was found in some tube-wells first but now that has become unavailable now.
An official of Kutupalong camp said, "Those who installed the tube-wells did it negligently. They installed those at 20 to 30 feet deep underground. But the water at that level has been finished and so the water scarcity has broken out."
In this connection, In-Charge (Joint Secretary) of Kutupalong registered camp Md Rezaul Karim said, "Many tube-wells have got out of order due to nominal faults. If the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission are given fund, the tube-wells may be restored."
