Water crisis in Dhandhuka

DHANDHUKA, MAY 30: Even after a back-breaking 5 km walk to Balgarh from her village Mingalpur, Hansaben Dhirubhai returns with just a few...

DHANDHUKA, MAY 30: Even after a back-breaking 5 km walk to Balgarh from her village Mingalpur, Hansaben Dhirubhai returns with just a few palmfuls of water in her pot. Hardly enough for her family of ten, but she has no option.

The breakdown, a fortnight ago, of two tube-wells at the Ingoli water station, which pipes water to Mingalpur and some dozen other villages, has meant such long daily walks to hundreds of village women. For over 15 days, not even a trickle of water has flowed through the supply lines from Ingoli water station.

It is not as if the villages have no other source of water. The villages have their own wells, but the water is unpotable because of salinity ingress from the Gulf of Cambay. Many people who make do with the brackish well water are suffering from diarrhoea. A local medical practitioner said it was mostly children who were having diarrhoea after drinking saline water.The worst-affected villages are Mingalpur, Ghanf, Kasindra, Umargarh, Sela, Valinda, Kamalata, Ambli, Novagam, and Balgarh. But the state government seems oblivious of the water crisis.

The signs foreboding the crisis were there for all to see. After the Insoli tube-wells broke down, the storage tanks at Balgarh sub-station 8212; where the water is kept before being piped to the villages acirc;euro;rdquo; began to run out of water. Frantic villagers are rushing to Balgarh and collecting as much water as possible from the storage tanks there.

They villagers also visited the Dhandhuka tehsil headquarters to apprise officials of the crisis. 8220; But ll we got were false assurances,8221; said Mashrubhai of Balgarh. And Jadhavbhai of Mingalpur said, 8220;The officials say that the water supply would be started soon but nothing has happened so far. Our children are suffering as they have to survive on the saline water of the wells.8221;

The district authorities had also promised to send water tankers to these villages till supply was restored, but follow-up hasn8217;t been taken.

Additional Deputy Resident Collector M.M. Kotwal said the administration was providing two water tankers daily to these villages. But when pointed out that the tankers had not turned up, he said, 8220;There might have been problems but now we are trying to ensure the supply of water tankers.8221;

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For some villagers, the water scarcity has provided an opportunity to earn extra money. Those who own tractors and rickshaws are ferrying water for a cost. 8220;They charge about Rs 20 for 15 litres of potable water, which is available at Dholera, 20-kms from our villages,8221; Dhirubhai of Mingalpur, said. But not many can afford it and prefer walking several kilometres to fetch water.