Daijiworld Media Network - Raichur (SP)
Raichur, Jun 9: A man from one community had tossed a stone into a pond in a village near here. But the villagers who did not take this act kindly, got the water standing in the pond pumped out completely.
It is common to come across people sitting idle near water bodies or passing through them to toss stones into wells, rivulets, rivers and streams. But a man's act of throwing a stone into the pond was responded to by the villagers in a weird fashion.
The incident happened at Shakhapur in Sirwar taluk of the district on Friday morning. A worker of Attanur gram panchayat had lobbed a stone into the said pond just for fun. This act was noticed by some people from a distance. The people grew suspicious about the motive of the person, in tune with the current practice of viewing everything with suspicion because of various notions prevailing concerning coronavirus infection. Moreover, water from this pond is used by the villagers for drinking and cooking. Some people suspected that there was some malicious intent behind the act of throwing the stone by the person concerned, who is from another community. Rumours also said that the person had smeared the stone with his saliva before tossing it.
Soon the people were seen emptying pitchers of water stored by them in their houses on the roads as they believed the rumours. Food cooked by using this water was also thrown away. The police came to know about the incident. They summoned the concerned person to the village and asked him to consume water from the pond in the presence of the villagers, which he did without any hesitation. He clarified that he was not guided by any malicious intent in throwing the stone. People thought the issue was over.
But later, the gram panchayat arranged to pump out the water from the pond. Now, the villagers are struggling to get drinking water. However, Attanur gram panchayat development officer, Vijayakumar, said that the water was emptied as the water in the pond had become contaminated and that desilting work was also undertaken. He clarified that the pond will be filled with water again.