Port Blair, March 12: Amongst the scenic beauty of the Isles, there is a longing struggle to secure clean drinking water and regular water tap connection that cannot go unseen. The story of Leelamma, a sixty-eight years old Angadwadi helper and a resident of Burmanallah, is an eye-opener for other residents who face similar adversity as Leelamma, with no water tap connection in their houses.

Being a mother to her ailing son, Leelamma's struggle to conserve clean water worsened. She had to walk miles and miles to the nearest well from her house to fetch hefty buckets of water, which only added more weight to her emotional and physical strain at the time when she was busy attending to her son. She further adds that even when her neighbors received water supply, she stood patiently, waiting for her turn to get as little as supply she could, to suffice her need until her next requirement. Her struggle did not end here.

When she felt undermined with the little water supply she had, she walked half a kilometer to a nearby freshwater stream to keep the availability of water at her home all the time. It was indeed the time, which Leelamma recalls, a state of tragic despair, where she had no hopes but to carry buckets of water her entire life amidst her other life struggles.

According to Leelamma, Jal Jeevan Mission has been no less than a blessing to her. She says, "Now I have a regular water tap connection at my house and receive a routined water supply.” She thanked A& N Administration that she no longer faces the ordeal to carry heavy buckets to her house to maintain a constant water supply at her house.