1477 villages provided Water tankers in Maharashtra

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

1477 villages provided Water tankers in Maharashtra

New Delhi, July 15

The government informed the Rajya Sabha today that a total of 1684 water tankers are deployed for supply of drinking water to the 1477 villages / habitations in the Marathwada region as on July 5 this year.

The government said adequate numbers of tankers are deployed, as per norms and demand from local bodies. The State Government has issued comprehensive guidelines for tackling drinking water scarcity and district wise scarcity action plans have been prepared to take suitable measures to tackle the drinking waterscarcity.

In response to a question by a member, the Minister of state for Jal Shakti Ministry, Rattan Lal Kataria said, the measures include digging new borewells, repairs of existing hand pumps, requisition of private wells and bore wells, deepening of wells, sanction of new temporary piped water supply schemes, pipe water supply special repairs and water supply through tankers.

Water train to nowhere

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

The water-starved Latur district of Maharashtra's Marathwada region is now witnessing the frightening sight of armed guards patrolling along its water reservoirs, where assembly of more than five persons has been banned. With an unrelenting summer leaving most parts of India baked to bone, it is no more an unbelievable sight that water lorries are piling up in all sorts of unthought-of places: Usha Kiran Building, on Mumbai's Carmichael Road, its toniest patch, where the late Dhirubhai Ambani lived with his family for many years; Subhadra, at Worli, which houses, among others, BJP minister Nitin Gadkari and NCP heavyweight Ajit Pawar; not to speak of the chrome-and-steel skyscrapers in proud Gurgaon, the Millenium City in Delhi's outskirts which will come to a standstill without the water tankers.