Maharashtra: Tribals of Bordhapada village walk 2 km to fetch water

Nashik (Maharashtra) [India], May 3 (ANI): Amid a water crisis in the area, tribal people of Bordhapada village in Maharashtra’s Nashik have been walking 2 km to fetch water from a well.

The people of Bordhapada have appealed to the administration to provide them with water facilities. “There are 2 wells in our village but they have dried up so we have to fetch water from the bottom of the hill which is 2 km away. Many women suffer injuries while going there. We demand the administration to give us water facility as soon as possible,” said a tribal woman.

According to the residents, the water crisis has become worse in the remote hilly villages, especially the Peth tribal Bordhapada village development block of Nashik taluka of Maharashtra.

“The people of Bodharpada have to struggle the whole day for water. Especially in the dry and inaccessible barren hilly areas, wells have also dried up in the villages. Women walk about 2 kilometres, and cross the hill to fetch water from the well or from hill pods located at the height”, a villager said.

“The water mission scheme seems to be a failure, it is active only on paper, no work has been done on any scheme here, the people of Bordhapada coming under the Peth gram panchayat have recently asked the collector to solve the problem of drinking water,” the villager added.

Sarpanch Namdev Newal, a resident of Bordhapada, “There are more than 1150 people living in 110 houses. There is not even a single source of water, the hill well, the wells in the village dry up in summer.”

A woman from the village said, “We are fetching water from a well, after walking two kilometres to cross the hill. Now water is available in that well, and that too maybe for around 15 days. It will also dry up eventually.”

According to the villagers, there is neither a hand pump nor a tube well anywhere in Phalia, another village near Bordhapada.

“After the water in Jhiri village dried up, villagers have to walk three to four km in search of water sources. One has to travel about two kilometres carrying utensils on the head through rocky terrains. There are many problems in such situations,” one of the women said.

The villagers added that they face serious water problems during summer.
“We requested the public representatives and officials by giving applications several times, but to date, no action has been taken. Water scarcity is serious and severe here. A major source of water here for both villagers and animals are two wells, and both have dried up completely”, they added.