IANS
 
Banjipali, Orissa, Jul 16: Don't be surprised if you are greeted with a glass of honey instead of water in this Orissa village.

Banjipali village, located in the foothills of the Gandhamardhan hill range, nearly 330 km from state capital Bhubaneswar in Bolangir district, suffers from an acute shortage of water. And the villagers seem to have found an alternative in honey!

"The abundant availability of honey has replaced even sugar and jaggery. It has substituted sugar in the lali chaha (red tea) that we drink or serve to visitors and in the making of pancakes during festivities," Parikshit Bariha, a villager told a visiting IANS correspondent.

The village is deprived of basic facilities like health, education, communication and, most importantly, drinking water. Inhabited by 150 people, mostly Binjhal tribals, it is located in a forest atop a hillock.

Aging Laxman Bariha, who has taught the entire village how to collect honey, said: "Local people depend upon the forest for livelihood. As honey is available here in plenty, people drink it and offer it to visitors."

Each and every family in the village collects over 10 to 20 litres of honey every month and sells more than 100 litres in the local market every year.

Villagers believe consumption of honey keeps diseases at bay. Although the Khaprakhol Community Health Centre is located some 15 km away from the village, people hardly visit it.

"A cup of honey has the potential to cure fever and that is what we have been following for long," said villager Durlaba Bariha.

While residents are yet to see any government officials in their village, they talk of how some politicians had come once to seek votes. The villagers hardly complain except about the lack of drinking water and proper marketing links to sell honey.

Of the six tubewells in the village, only one has water and there too it takes hours before the water can be pumped out.

"Most of the time the lone tubewell goes dry with the onset of summer. The entire village has to trek upto 1.5 km to fetch water. Though there is a small water body at the foothills, which is used by both villagers and wild animals, this too dries up in the heat," Tapeswar Bariha, a villager, told IANS.

"Although the digging of a well was initiated under the Watershed Mission, the people engaged for the work abandoned it after digging seven feet deep," he said.

Bolangir Collector R Santhana Gopalan said the village had been included in the district Watershed Mission. "This year the entire village will be provided safe drinking water," he assured.