While Most Of Maharashtra Has Floods, Drought-Hit Marathwada Still Struggles For Water
Dams supplying water to the people in the region are drying up and only have less than 15 percent water. Only the Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad has water to near its capacity and had to be opened. The opening of the floodgates of the dam has come as welcome news for the farmers in the neighboring areas.
It is as ironic as it can get. While most of Maharashtra is reeling under floods, the story is far different in Marathwada region.
Except for Aurangabad, other districts, Beed, Osmanabad, Jalna, Nanded, Parbhani and Latur have experienced a deficit monsoon even now.
BCCL
In fact, people of Marathwada are still experiencing a severe drought-like condition. It is so bad that dams supplying water to the people in the region are drying up and only have less than 15 percent water.
Only the Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad has water to near its capacity and had to be opened.
The opening of the floodgates of the dam has come as welcome news for the farmers in the neighboring areas.
BCCL
A Congress delegation which met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over flood relief had asked the state government to immediately declare these districts as drought-hit and take up the remedial measures accordingly.
The State Cabinet had earlier permitted creating artificial rain in Marathwada.
The situation in another drought-prone area, Vidarbha is no different.
According to reports, in Vidarbha, the Dina dam in Gadchiroli and Khadakpurna in Buldhana have no water. Totladoh in Nagpur has just 1.2 percent of water left.
BCCL
According to Skymet Weather, in the coming days also Marathwada will remain mostly dry, however, isolated rain in the eastern parts cannot be ruled out.
In the case of Vidarbha region, a Cyclonic Circulation is persisting over the North Bay of Bengal which would soon intensify into a Low-Pressure Area and further would move northwestwards.
The deficit monsoon has also taken a toll on the agriculture sector of the region.
BCCL
Marathwada has a history of droughts and is regarded as one of the worst places in the country for farmers. Years of deficit rains and repeated crop failures have pushed thousands of farmers in the region to suicide. In 2018 alone as many as 909 distressed farmers from the eight districts of Marathwada has committed suicide.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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