Bhopal: The holy river of Mandakini flowing through Chitrakoot assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district is giving jitters to BJP which is trying to wrest the seat from Congress in the November 9 by-elections.
A vast stretch of the river crisscrossing the mythological city of Chitrakoot has been reduced to small water bodies owing to massive deforestation carried out on its banks for several decades.
“The river literally dries up at several places in the constituency, particularly in the summer season. This causes severe drinking water crisis. Villagers have been forced to traverse nearly five km to fetch water from the downstream during summer”, said MP Congress Committee vice-president Raja Pataria. People are angry at the state government for its failure to restore the denuded forest to make the river a perennial water source in the region.
