Water riots, suicides on rise in Bundelkhand
Minister for water resources Pawan Kumar Bansal is reported to have been horrified to have learnt of the macabre incident in which a mother, Qadeeran, and her youngest son, Rasheed, were killed by her two elder sons, Nafees and Anees, over a water dispute in Banda district of Bundelkhand.
Plunging groundwater levels would have only served to accelerate the situation but Mr Bansal is reported to have confided to close aides that even he was shocked that a water dispute would result in “matricide and fratricide”.
Water riots and farmers suicides have become common in the drought-hit Bundelkhand region and gaining access to drinking water is the bane of everyone’s existence.
In Bangra village of Bundelkhand, only six out of the 14 handpumps supply drinking water since water in the other pumps has turned brackish. This means 2,000 people are dependent on these pumps for all their drinking and cooking needs. During summers and in agricultural operations in the winter even this water will dry up, said an activist with the NGP Parmarth Samaj Sevi Sansthan.
The water situation here is so acute that the police filed an FIR on May 13 against 12 farmers for illegally drawing water from Urmil dam in Bundelkhand’s Mahoba district on Madhya Pradesh border. “Even ponds and wells have dried up and handpumps have stopped working and this is only the beginning of summer,” said an official of the Jal Board.
The entire Bundelkhand belt had witnessed a large number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers. The UPA government had allotted a special `3,506-crore for the Bundelkhand region but the Mayawati regime failed to utilise this money. This water-starved belt has to pay a heavy price as most irrigation projects remain untouched.
Post new comment