Water woes turn into law and order problem in Madhya Pradesh

The pilgrim town of Ujjain and,in fact,the entire Malwa-Nimad region is facing acute water shortage. Local bodies in several towns are finding it difficult to supply drinking water even once-a-week.

The state had deficient rainfall last year that led to water sources drying up completely in places like Dewas,where water has become a subject of legal and administrative disputes. Dewas is facing its worst crisis ever as private bore-wells that compensated for the lack of a proper water supply network have completely gone dry. “Earlier,owners of bore-wells used to share water with those who did not have water. Now,they are themselves dependent on water-tankers,” Rajesh Khatri,whose bore-well in Moti Bungalow area of Dewas dried up four weeks ago,told The Indian Express.

Dewas had a tough time when Indore reneged on a promise to share water,saying it was finding it difficult to supply water to its own residents. According to an old tripartite agreement,Indore had to share the Narmada waters with Dewas. Indore now gives 2 mld water to Dewas following a meeting Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had with municipal authorities of both the cities. The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently threw out a petition that objected to the supply of water to Dewas. Chief executive officer of Dewas district panchayat R R Bhonsle said the situation had partially improved,but was far from satisfactory.

“A water supply scheme on the Kshipra river was sanctioned more than two decades ago,but no one knows when will it be completed,” a local journalist said,adding that in the absence of its own scheme,the town had to beg for water from other cities. In the past,water was supplied to the town by rail wagons.

The Dewas administration has imposed Section 144 of the Cr PC along the 128-km pipeline from Nemawar after large-scale theft of water was reported. The pipeline was laid for supplying water to industries,but the local authorities were forced to start buying water months ago.

Congress leader Suresh Pachauri said 341 towns and more than 15,000 villages were reeling under water crisis. He alleged that Central funds meant for making provision for water remained unspent,and,in some cases,siphoned off.

Even the state capital is not free from water woes. A major portion of the Upper Lake here has dried up,forcing the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to ration the supply. A scheme to bring the Narmada waters to Bhopal was sanctioned years ago. Though the work has begun on war footing,it’s not likely to be completed by September,the deadline set by the Government.

Last month,three persons of a family were killed in Bhopal after a dispute over water. Though it was also a case of old enmity,skirmishes have been reported from other parts of the state as well.