The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : `Give us water, not food'

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Sunday, May 02, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

`Give us water, not food'

By Meena Menon

Tanker supplying water at Pokhri village, Ashti taluka, in Maharashtra. - Photo: Meena Menon

ASHTI, (Beed district, Maharashtra), May 1. "Give us water, now; food is not so important," says 65-year-old Saraswati Ambedkar, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, a Dalit colony in Ashti taluka. Kalavati Shirwale, another resident, says the only handpump does not work. "I pay Rs. 5 for two cans of water. No tanker comes here. The water is often dirty: we have no choice but to drink it."

A kilometre away, the only well for the colony is almost dry. In the morning, there is barely enough water to fill a small pot. Large tin cans are placed in queue at night.

"Water trickles down the rocky sides of the well and we have to wait till night so that at least a few of us can fill our cans," says Ms. Saraswati.

Boys such as Suresh Bandu Dhas, go down to the rocky well with a rope to take water. They take turns every night. "I sometimes fill only three cans at a time," says Suresh, a fifth standard student.

Cattle too are hit by water scarcity. Residents of the colony claim that one of the largest cattle camps in the State that is nearby had virtually drained off all the water from the well.

Drought has virtually come to stay for the fourth year in succession in Beed district, one of the three worst affected in the Marathwada region. Travelling through the critically affected taluka, one can see bullock carts ferrying large plastic cans of water that are sold at the rate of Rs. 5 for a 20-litre can.

Tanker operators extract water from some few borewells and sell water. The Government supplies water free of cost.

For the last five months, people have been at the mercy of erratic and inadequate water supply from the Government and private tankers.

Sources in the Government said in the 177 villages of Ashti taluka, over 190 Government tankers supply water daily, apart from 186 private tankers.

The local people, however, complained that supply was erratic and they had been without water for eight days at a stretch.

Almost every water source, including 25 to 30 large ponds and two minor irrigation projects, have dried up.

Even the groundwater level has dipped to 300 feet.

At Pokhri's Dalit colony, women and children cluster around a tanker near a well. Unmindful of the risk of falling into the 50-foot well, women try to fill their steel and brass pots from the tanker's pipe.

"The tanker comes every evening, but it is barely enough," says Panchphula Dattatrey.

Soon, the pipe snakes its way down the well, which is filthy and full of garbage. What the women did not manage to get directly from the tanker is poured into the well. They quickly drop buckets and other utensils into it.

"We use this for washing and sometimes we even drink it," says Ms. Panchphula.

In less than 30 minutes, the 1,200 litre tanker has emptied about half its content, and leaves for another part of the sprawling village.

With 500 people living in this settlement, the daily supply of 600 litres is hardly enough.

Each person is entitled to 20 litres a day, as per Government calculations, says the Ashti Tehsildar, V.N. Bothikar.

However, this calculation does not take into account the cattle that are dying.

The poor water supply and quality has affected the health of Ashti's residents.

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