UP elections: Will Mankapur finally get clean drinking water?

No household in this constituency of over 6 lakh residents has piped water supply; they are all dependent on the heavily polluted ground water. As the region votes on Monday, the people of the constituency hope the next government they elect will hopefully solve their drinking water woes. About 15km from Nawabganj crossing, Ram Charan Yadav of Maheshpur village is aware of the ill-effects of the polluted water his family is forced to drinks. “We fall ill frequently and the doctor says it is because of the water. We have never seen the local MLA in our village and despite promises nothing has been done on the ground,” says Yadav. All 48 families in his village depend on the private hand pumps outside their homes. The state is supposed to provide at least one hand pump in each village. Though this is just not adequate, even those villages that got the hand pumps say they are mostly defunct. The clean drinking water schemes and Nirmal Neer scheme are in limbo. “Started in 2013, the water tank construction is complete but we don't know whether it has water or not. Even the government pumped water cannot be trusted,” says Rajesh of Khempur village, which has a water tank and pipeline but no supply.