Alipurduar: The water crisis in Totopara, mostly inhabited by the nearly extinct Toto tribals, has been solved in majority areas, an official said today.
Presently about 1000 houses in the area in north Bengal are getting pipe water, District Magistrate Deviprasad Karnam said.
Priority has been given to the Totos, numbering only 1533, he said.
The entire area where non-Totos are also living will get water by next year and dependence on Bhutan for water will end, he said.
The success followed a state government project launched in 2013 to build three reservoirs to store showers from waterfalls.
Construction of the reservoirs has been completed. The water stored is distributed through pipes, he said, adding that only one reservoir was now functional.
The government is also implementing the ‘Spring Shed’ programme, used in Sikkim, through which waterfalls do not dry up during summer, he said.