Don146;t spill

Kekatpangri is former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde8217;s citadel but its hasn8217;t seen a water tanker for a year now. This, when...

Kekatpangri is former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde8217;s citadel but its hasn8217;t seen a water tanker for a year now. This, when 600 tankers do the rounds across Beed which is among the 11 districts reeling under severe drought.

The nine-kilometre stretch from Kekatpangri to Georai is one long, narrow road of concrete potholes. It8217;s dotted with groups of women and girls who walk across barren fields balancing steel pots on their heads, careful to ensure they don8217;t spill a drop of water. 8216;8216;I do this four times a day,8217;8217; says 20-something Kavita Rathod as she takes measured steps, her eyes fixed on the path ahead. 8216;8216;Each trip to this well takes me an hour.8217;8217; The women with her urge her to hurry. It8217;s getting dark and they still have another trip to make.

The drought has also forced farmers to look elsewhere for a source of livelihood. Until two years ago, Sachin Jadhav, a class VII drop-out, and his brother helped their father reap rich harvests of sugarcane and bananas on their 15 acres. Now, he has switched to driving a four-wheeler he bought after taking a loan.

Jadhav8217;s village, Pangri, is a dusty brown settlement of mud houses with thatched roofs. Jobless men sit around playing cards all day. 8216;8216;Though we are facing a severe water shortage, until recently, our village had not been declared drought-affected,8217;8217; says 52-year-old farmer Eknath Lagad. 8220;So none of the drought-related schemes applied to us.8217;8217;

Villagers claim they have held rasta rokos on the highway to press for their demands but it has yielded nothing. 8216;8216;We were promised that three canals nearby would be opened up for us but only one was opened and just for a month or so,8217;8217; Lagad said.

8216;8216;We did have a tanker visiting the village last year. But the driver would make only one trip a day instead of the five he was making money for,8217;8217; Jadhav recalls. 8216;8216;One day, frustrated, we beat him up and he stopped coming.8217;8217;

Corruption at various levels is rampant, say villagers; they don8217;t question authorities any more. 8216;8216;Kuni CM sahebanna kadhi aana ikde Somebody should bring the CM here some day,8217;8217; Lagad sighs, mounting his bicycle.