Cracks send quot;tremorsquot; down Nashik villagers8217; backs

The cracks was first noticed by a farmer, Govind Krishna Patil. On January 5, Patil set for his fields which he irrigates by two electric pumps of 7 HP. But on that day, he found that the pumps refused to function. Perplexed, he went to Amda Doh8217;, his source of water on the Damanganga river to find out why his pumps refused to draw water. The sight that met him was quite unexpected. The water table had receded below the mouth of the pipe drawing water. He then looked around to discover cracks at several places near the river bank. The width of the cracks ranged to over 12 inches and theirlength from a foot to over ten feet.

He immediately contacted his brother, Dagu Patil, who is the village sarpanch. As the news spread in the village, having a population of around 500, it began attracting people to the site. The water table remained unchanged. What changed was the length of the water pipe belonging to the Patil brothers who had to extend it by 15 feet to 20 feet.

On January 8, Govinda met one of his relatives at the weekly bazaar at Karanjali. The latter told Govinda that he had experienced tremors in the early hours of January 5. The news spread in surrounding villages attracting more crowd.

Another farmer, Ramdas Tulshiram Malgave, pointed out to the cracks in his sugarcane field which is drying up for want of water. He said that the about 50 per cent of his crop grown on 2.5 acres of land has been destroyed by crowds visiting the place. The remaining, he said, would eventually dry up as it would be impossible to irrigate owing to the cracks.

Another thing that warrants mention isthe emergence of fresh water streams from the earth at three new spots. The surprising part is, say villagers, that the water temperature at the three spots vary by a few degrees. One more farmer from Popalpada village about ten kilometres away has reported that his well has suddenly gone dry. The villagers of Gonde fear that the phenomenon would eventually lead to a Latur-like disaster. And their fear is not unjustified. The Damanganga river flows throughout the year and its water depth at the Amda Doh8217; spot from where the villagers draw water has always remained above 12 feet. But now, the water level is just six feet. The cracks, which are over 15 feet deep, seem to be widening, the villagers claim. And the cracks are so severe that at one spot, a teak tree has been vertically split.

When officials of the Maharashtra Engineering Research Institute were contacted, they said that no seismic activity worth mentioning has been registered by them in the past two months. They expressed their inability todeal with the situation saying that it was basically a geological problem requiring the expertise of geologists.

Meanwhile, local MLA Harischandra Chavan, who visited the spot, said that he would make all efforts to mobilise the official machinery to study the strange phenomenon. He said that he would bring the issue to the Chief Minister8217;s notice. A local seismic expert, N M Avhad, who had accompanied Chavan to the site, said that there was a possibility of an earthquake in the region and the receding water table and the cracks were symptoms of a quake.