A water tanker in Beedsangavi village in Marathwada’s Ashti taluka
In Beedsangavi village of Ashti taluka, 61-year-old Popat Berad was stunned to see a water tanker in Aug. Sometimes, I feel the 1972 scarcity was less severe.
How will we survive the rest of the year?” he said. Villager Santosh Kakade said, “This year is horrible and this drought is different. ” “There was still some water in parts of the river, a narrow stream. A district administration official said, “We have seen and heard of many water scarcity situations and droughts but never was there a year when people struggled for drinking water in July. Ashti tehsildar Vaishali Patil said there was absolutely no rain this season.
ASHTI: When the monsoon drenched parts of Maharashtra, and several areas saw waterlogging in July, villages in Marathwada were already waiting for drinking water tankers. For them, drought began well before govt declared one. “In my entire life, I have never seen the need for a tanker in a monsoon month. We are used to water scarcity in April. About 75km deeper into the parched expanse from Beed, the nondescript village of Kinhi has been dependent on tankers since July. During the rainy season, when videos of flooding in some cities were doing the rounds online, we were waiting with cans and utensils for a tanker every day, waiting for water. The drought was declared last week but for us it started right during the monsoon. But now the river is completely dry. We did not see rain at all. It felt as if there was no monsoon and we had gone directly from one summer to another. It is Sept now, and we have to survive the rest of the year until the next monsoon. That is too long. The absence of rain has been equally stark in official records. It is rare. “Not even a stream formed in the rivers this year. Even during the monsoon, not once did the rivers flow,” she added.