Taps dry, villagers in the pits for water

Vikkiben lowers herself into the four-foot pit, scoops out the inch or so of water with a saucer and pours it into her pitcher. Then she has to wait for sometime before more water gathers and she can scoop out another saucerful.

Already, the women waiting in queue are restive. They quarrel over who’s next.

Dirty and scarce as it is, the water they get from virdis is something people from five villages around the famed lake cannot do without. ‘‘We don’t have any drinking water in the village,’’ says Bhikhiben of Nani Katechi. ‘‘The water from the borewell is brackish, but it’s a relief when the pump works. When there’s a power cut, or pump fails life becomes miserable and we have to fight at virdis.’’

Says sarpanch Bhikhabhai Padher, ‘‘Even when the borewell is working, we face difficulty for there’s a power cut — from 10 am to 3 am sometimes — and there’s a mad rush when word gets around that power has been restored.’’

So the villagers living around Nal Sarovar — which has gone dry after seven years — have to depend on virdi water. A few glassfuls is all that they can gather.

Already people are migrating. Hardly 2,000 people remain in Nani Katechi, which had a population of 5,000. Shahpur is also half-empty. In Ranapur, Padali and Darji Shial too, it’s the same story.

‘‘The men go as far as Kutch and Surat to seek work as daily-wagers,’’ says Padher. ‘‘Others have joined relief works in nearby areas.’’ For their livelihood, villagers depend on fishing, agriculture and ferrying tourists when the birds arrive — all gone to nought with the drying up of the lake.

Worst-hit this year are the 700-odd fishermen and boatmen.

‘‘We used to get Rs 200-300 daily from tourists and birdwatchers,’’ says Shantibhai Koli, a boatman. ‘‘Right from the beginning this year, water level was low and there were few tourists.’’ MLA from Limbdi, Bhavan Bharwad, complains that politics is depriving villagers of the help they need: ‘‘Since I am a Congress MLA, the BJP government is not sanctioning tankers to supply water here.’’ However, Surendranagar District Collector D.J. Dariya says, ‘‘I think extra tankers have been sanctioned…supply will start soon.’’

The Swami Vivekananda Trust of Limdi plans to sink another bore well for the villagers but that would take another month.

So, for the villagers, who haven’t heard of Modi’s online grievance scheme, it’s a long and dry wait for the monsoon.