Tears of the people who toil to find drinking water

COLOMBO (News 1st): In a town, naturally landscaped with cascading waterfalls, the Gammadda team today (July 26), visited a village where locals-only receive water once every four days. There are 450 families residing in the Mihindupura village in Nuwara-Eliya. They cultivate vegetables to earn a living. Excessive profits made by intermediary parties have forced these farmers to leave their vegetables to rot. Today we saw rotten cabbage, burnt carrots, and pale leeks. These people survive on the water that is supplied to them from a tank once every four days. In Polonnaruwa, the Halmillewa village is well known as a village with a high number of kidney patients. There are patients who are severely affected by kidney disease in this village. They have to spend Rs. 3.00 per litre to obtain clean water. These people are forced to pay for the clean water they consume. The light elephant fence in this village with no power is as good as a twig in the path of wild elephants. The Dimbulana village in Singhapura in Polonnaruwa faces the threat of elephants encroaching the village. Even this morning (July 26) two houses were destroyed. The Nanattanmalliya Natti village in Mannar is a farming zone. The vegetables grown by these people have been scorched by the sun. The Malliyanachchi reservoir has also dried up. The farmers have been forced to uses pipes to extract water from agrarian wells. We came across a school where 170 students receive their education in one building. This is the Labukelle Thalagol Vidyala in Nuwara-Eliya. These children who study without the required infrastructure facilities and don't even have proper desks and chairs are also burdened with the fear that a mound of soil will collapse on them.