Battling one of the worst droughts in the recent past, Marathwada region is left with paltry 380 million cubic metres (MCM) of usable water in over 800 dams in the region.
Battling one of the worst droughts in the recent past, Marathwada region is left with paltry 380 million cubic metres (MCM) of usable water in over 800 dams in the region.
According to officials, of the 75 medium dams in Marathwada, 54 have completely dried up. The state had also declared drought in a few thousand villages in Vidarbha. With a grim situation prevailing in all eight districts, the drought condition is likely to get intense in the coming days with the administration pressing into action services such as sending in more number of water tankers and getting water from neighbouring districts. However, the government has promised to take all possible measures to help the people.
Divisional commissioner Umakant Dangat said, “The government is trying its best to ensure that the meagre water storage lasts till rains arrive.”
According to sources in the Divisional Commissioner Office, in the total 843 small and big dams of the region, only 380 MCM of usable water is left while the total capacity is 7,968 MCM. The sources said over 2,500 water tankers are in operation in the region, mostly in the worst-affected Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts.
There are a total of 11 big water projects in Marathwada, which has water-storing capacity of 5,143 MCM and currently, the usable water stock available is 268 MCM, while there are 75 medium projects with a capacity of 934 MCM but the stock remaining is meagre at 56 MCM.
In Beed, 146 irrigation projects and the small Bindusara river, which serve as chief source of drinking water to the district, have parched. Nearly 1,200 borewells in the district too have dried up. Currently, the only source of water is received from the Majalgaon reservoir and has stock left only for the next 26 days.
The grave water scarcity situation in Jalna district has even compelled villagers to cancel marriages. Vilas Raut, a resident of Dolkehda village in Jalna, said about 25 men and 20 women in the district have decided to postpone their marriage functions to October and November in view of the acute water scarcity.
In Latur, half-a-million residents are reeling from years of below-par monsoon rains. Groups of people have been banned in Latur from gathering near water sources, in a preventive measure to prevent riots over water. In Aurangabad, the historical monument Panchakki (water-mill) too has parched, which otherwise attracts lakhs of tourists round-the-year.
Pilgrims visiting Paithan in Aurangabad for the nath procession on March 29 will face a tough time as riverbanks across Godavari have dried up.
To tackle the situation, municipality of Paithan has made water supply through tankers and make-shift taps would also be brought into service.
In order to mitigate the problems, district administration is making alternate arrangements such as fetching 2 TMC water from Isapur irrigation project to Vishnupuri dam, which is likely to provide sufficient drinking water for a month in Nanded district.
Meanwhile, railway minister Suresh Prabhu had on Wednesday expressed concern over the matter and said efforts were being made to provide water to the parched region via trains. He had tweeted on making arrangements for a water tanker train for Latur.
