With the onset of summer across the country, the Dhangaon village in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra – a tribal dominated area – is facing a water crisis, with locals highlighting the lack of facilities, news agency ANI reported.
Women in the village said they are compelled to travel several kilometres each day in search of water for their families. One of the locals stated that she has to walk seven to eight kilometres under the scorching sun, with no paved roads or access to transport.
Vir Singh Pawara, the sarpanch of Dhangaon, said that villagers are forced to trek long distances to collect water from the Narmada river. He added that while the village has repeatedly contacted the state administration, no steps have yet been taken yet to provide them any respite, ANI reported.
“Even though I am the head of the village, I have complained about this to the administration many times, but till now there has been no reaction from the administration on this issue. Our demand from the administration is that we should get pure drinking water from the administration,” the sarpanch told ANI.
He also informed that the hand pumps also do not have enough water.
“There is a problem of water here. We do not know whether the water we get is pure or impure. People in our village get water from hand pumps, but there is very little, and it wastes a lot of our time. We have to wait for many hours for water to come out,” added Pawara.
He further emphasised how the water shortage has made daily tasks such as bathing and washing utensils increasingly challenging, forcing families to conserve water to the extreme.
“The water we get, or we bring, is not enough for us to survive with it. We cook food with less water, or keep water for drinking, keep water for animals, we have to cook food, wash utensils, and take a bath with this limited amount of water. We have to do all these works in this work. There are a lot of problems,” he added.
Another resident, Dildar Pawara, said that villagers are forced to rise as early as 4 am to access water.
“Whoever wants water has to get up at 4 am; after that, no one gets. Also, whoever comes at 4 am gets their water at 6 or 7 am, and they have to fill 5 or 6 containers for their family. If we don`t get water at the pump, then we have to go to another panchayat to get it,” Pawara told ANI.
A woman who regularly fetches water from various sources for her family stated that her village has not been receiving the benefits of the Maharashtra Government`s schemes.
“Nandurbar district is neglected by all the facilities and schemes of the government. The area, falling in Dhadgaon tehsil, Bilgaon, Maal, and 200 other small villages, is far away from all the schemes of the government,” she said.
“In this scorching heat of April we have to walk about 7 to 8 kilometres near the Narmada river to fetch drinking water… There is no paved road or vehicle to go here, but very narrow rocky roads which go down through the mountains to the backwater of the Narmada river, in which one can hardly walk even on foot,” the woman added.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), temperatures in Nandurbar are expected to remain consistently above 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days.
(With ANI inputs)
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