Woman dies of thirst in Bihar village

Dukhni Devi (65) died at Manjhi Tola of Pandri village in Dobhi block of the district due to unquenched thirst.

An old Dalit woman allegedly died of thirst in Bihar's parched Gaya district though the local administration has attributed her death to illness.

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Dukhni Devi (65) died at Manjhi Tola of Pandri village in Dobhi block of the district last Monday due to unquenched thirst, her son Rajendra Manjhi and villagers alleged.

Rajendra, who ekes out a living by pulling a cycle-rickshaw at Gaya, said his mother Dukhni, who had difficulty in walking lived alone in their house at Manjhi Tola, a cluster of 40 huts of Dalit Mushar caste, about 25 km from the district headquarters.

The only hand pump at the village is non-functional and water of a well in the village was not fit for consumption forcing the villagers to go to other villages for water.

Rajendra said he received information about his mother's death on Monday night.

"On returning home I found my mother dead and not a drop of water in the utensils. There was nobody in the house who could fetch her a glass of water," he told a group of reporters who reached the village on receiving information about the death of the woman.

When contacted, District Magistrate Sandip Paundrik admitted shortage of drinking water in the village but claimed the woman had died due to illness.