Amid scorching summers, water scarcity hits tribal areas in Maharashtra

Nandurbar (Maharashtra) [India], April 20 (ANI): With the onset of summer across the country, Dhangaon village in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, a tribal dominated area, is facing a water crisis in the area, with locals highlighting the lack of facilities.
Women in the area said that they are forced to find water for themselves and their families by travelling multiple kilometres. One woman said that she is forced to walk for 7-8 kilometres in the scorching heat, without any paved roads or access to a vehicle.

Vir Singh Pawara, sarpanch of the Dhangaon village said that people have to walk many kilometres to get water from the Narmada river, and said that the state administration has been contacted multiple times by the villagers, but no action has been taken.

"Even though I am the head of the village, I have complained about this to the administration many times, but till now there has been no reaction from the administration on this issue. Our demand from the administration is that we should get pure drinking water from the administration," Sarpanch told ANI.
"There is a problem of water here. We do not know whether the water we get is pure or impure. People in our village get water from hand pumps, but there is very little, and it wastes a lot of our time. We have to wait for many hours for water to come out," he said.
He further highlighted how, because of the water shortage, many of the basic tasks and chores, such as taking a bath, washing utensils, are becoming increasingly difficult as they use less and less water each time.
"The water we get, or we bring, is not enough for us to survive with it. We cook food with less water, or keep water for drinking, keep water for animals, we have to cook food, wash utensils, and take a bath with this limited amount of water. We have to do all these works in this work. There are a lot of problems," he added.
One of the locals, Dildar Pawara, said that the people have to get up as early as 4 am to get water, whereas anyone who is late for water collection is not fortunate enough to get any.
"Whoever wants water has to get up at 4 am; after that, no one gets. Also, whoever comes at 4 am gets their water at 6 or 7 am, and they have to fill 5 or 6 containers for their family. If we don't get water at the pump, then we have to go to another panchayat to get it," Pawara told ANI.
A woman who regularly fetches water from various sources for her family said that her village is quite far from receiving benefits of the government schemes.
"Nandurbar district is neglected by all the facilities and schemes of the government. The area, falling in Dhadgaon tehsil, Bilgaon, Maal, and 200 other small villages, is far away from all the schemes of the government," she said.
"In this scorching heat of April we have to walk about 7 to 8 kilometers near the Narmada river to fetch drinking water...There is no paved road or vehicle to go here, but very narrow rocky roads which go down through the mountains to the backwater of the Narmada river, in which one can hardly walk even on foot," the woman said.
Another local highlighted how they are not able to get enough water from the hand pumps.
"We have a problem of getting water. We have a hand pump, but we don't get much water from it. If we don't get water, then we have to travel to the Narmada river, which is 6-7 kilometres," he told ANI.
The villagers have claimed that they have repeatedly urged officials and demanded some facilities for their remote village, however they have not been listened to.
The forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in the Nandurbar area expects the maximum temperature to be consistently above 40 degrees Celsius. (ANI)