Latur: ‘Will there be another drought? Can government tackle it?’

Umarfarukh Mainoddin Patel: Class 12 student in Latur wants to become a judge

Latur, maharashtra latur, maharashtra drought, latur water crisis, maharashtra water crisis, Water train, Water train Latur , Latur Water train, water train Maharashtra, Mahashtra news, India news

The water train ran from Miraj to Latur, 342 km away. The first of the 50 tank wagons arrived in Latur on April 10. Pradip Das.

To mark 2017, The Sunday Express meets 17-year-olds across the country touched by the big events of 2016 — to listen to their questions as they begin their first year of adulthood.

IN MARCH, when the Latur water crisis was at its peak, like scores of others, the family of Umarfarukh Mainoddin Patel wanted desperately to leave the city. “It was the worst nightmare of our life. We had to walk kilometres in the blazing summer sun to get a bucket of water,” remembers Umarfarukh. Often, it fell upon the 17-year-old to fetch water for the family, which lives in Shahu Chowk area of Latur, as his father would leave for work early in the morning. “The nearest water points were Gandhi Chowk and Vivekanand Chowk, both 2 km away,” says the Class 12 student. He either carried the pitchers home or rode back with them on a bicycle.

It was an exercise that could last up to eight hours a day, says Umarfarukh. By the time he reached the spot, there would already be long queues, of people with two-three pitchers or buckets each, struggling with the trickle being dispensed at the water point. “I used to get a fright.” In a crucial academic year, his studies suffered too, Umarfarukh says, as standing in the sun for so long often left him ill. His ambition is to become a judge. “I want to ensure justice to the poor, especially those wrongly charged… In this country, only those who have money get justice, the poor have little recourse to justice,” he says.

Story continues below this ad

During the drought, Umarfarukh
(selfie above) would fetch water from
2 km away

His father is a property dealer and his earnings from his commissions are irregular. “Sometimes he gets Rs 20,000 a month, sometimes more,” says Umarfarukh. The family has eight members, including Umarfarukh’s four sisters, his parents and grandmother. While the water train to Latur ran from April to August, the situation only eased after the September deluge, which filled the Manjara dam to capacity. The five lakh-plus Latur residents now get tap water every four-five days.

Watch what else is making news

But Umarfarukh fears the summer of 2016 will return. Will there be another drought, and if it does, is the government better prepared, he asks. “Has the government or authorities thought of steps like increasing the green cover and desilting rivers and lakes? You hardly find any trees in the city. The gardens have become dumping yards.” The 17-year-old also wonders if the government is serious about plans to link rivers. He says he has heard on TV it would end woes of regions such as Latur. “I heard the issue was taken up in Parliament… But is there any progress on that front?”

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Loading Taboola...

H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear?

Explained1 hr ago

The White House's decision to impose a $100,000 entry fee on H-1B visa holders has sparked worry among Indian tech workers and students. While uncertainties remain about its implementation and exemptions, major tech companies have cautioned employees against traveling. The policy could lead to a shift towards other visa categories and potentially change the STEM immigration pipeline.

View all shorts

Live Blog