Videos show women in Valsad village entering dry wells to seek water, govt steps in: ‘Pipeline leak repaired, supply now normal’

Kaprada Taluka Development Officer Anand Patel told IE, “The village has eight wells and during the summer season, they get dried up. The villagers were receiving tap water through the State government’s Astol group water supply scheme, in which water is pumped from the Madhuban dam and supplied via a pipeline network to various villages on the hilly terrain, including Moti Palsan in Kaprada. There was a leak in the water supply pipeline network, resulting in a disruption to the water supply. The network was repaired last (Thursday) evening, and from Friday onwards, the villagers started getting water supply. The villagers are now happy.”

A resident of Moti Palsan village, who did not wish to be named, said, “Kaprada taluka receives heavy rainfall every year in the monsoon.  There are eight wells that fill during the monsoon season, but they dry up during summer. The village lies in hilly terrain and its population is around 1,000 to 1,200 people. The main occupation is farming and animal husbandry. The villagers get water through taps from the Astol Group Water supply scheme. The main water supply line had been damaged for a long time and despite regular representations, no action was taken. The villagers made a video of a woman entering a deep well to fetch water and uploaded it on social media, noting down the details of the location of the area. The villagers had been fetching water in the same way for a long time. After the video went viral on social media, the authorities took action and the leak was repaired on war footing on Thursday evening. On Friday, the villagers started getting regular water supply.”