#dnaEdit: Will Maharashtra's Latur become a dystopian nightmare over water scarcity?

Does Latur run the risk of turning into a war zone with pitched battles being fought over water? The conditions on the ground are ripe for such a dystopian nightmare, the fear of which has prompted the district collector to slap Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. This unprecedented move to minimise the possibility of outbreak of violence shows how precarious life in the district has become in the absence of a basic necessity called water. With Section 144 in place till May 31, no more than five people can assemble near a water tanker, at the tanker-filling points and along the routes of water tankers.

Latur has become bone dry. The Manjara dam has virtually dried up, and those getting water from the other three major reservoirs in the district are angry at the way this water is being ferried to the worse affected areas. For the last 45 days, municipal water has stopped coming to households in Latur city, which has a population of five lakh. The 70 government tankers allocated for the city come once in five days. Each family is entitled to only 200 litres of water per month, which is free. For additional water, every 1000 litres come for Rs250-300. For 2000 litres, one has to pay Rs400-450. The conditions in the villages are a shade better with 200 tankers pressed into service and 1000 borewells, taken over by the zilla administration, supplying water to households through local bodies. 

Latur’s dry spell stretches over many years. In the last three-and-a-half-decades, the Manjara dam has been full to the brim only 12-13 times, which means water shortage is an age-old problem. But this year has been the worst because of two successive famines preceding it. With monsoon at least two months away, one shudders to think how everyday life can be conducted amid such deprivation. Already tankers have been hijacked several times and long queues around wells have led to frayed tempers and fisticuffs. There is only so much that the people can take and the palpable tension in Latur could be a precursor of a major conflagration. Unsurprisingly, political parties have been accused of fomenting unrest in gatherings near filling and distribution points.

How feasible would it be to take Solapur’s Ujani dam water for Latur hasn’t been worked out. Ujani too is empty and the people in the district are clamouring for more water to be released from the neighbouring Bhama Askhed dam. This would trigger a crisis in areas dependant on Bhama Askhed dam. When one-third of Maharashtra is desperately thirsty, the marginally better-off districts are vehemently opposed to sharing water for fear of the impact it would have on their daily consumption.

The theory that the third world war would be fought over water isn’t idle speculation. India could be staring at the prospect of a civil war with half the country experiencing drought-like conditions. Farmer suicides in several states is now an established phenomenon. The deepening crisis has inspired a section of opinion-makers to intensify their demands for a nationwide river-linking project — touted to be a long-term solution. But, without assessing the environmental impact and human displacement such a mammoth initiative will trigger, any attempt at linking rivers can result in an   even bigger catastrophe. 

For Maharashtra government, the situation is so dire that it will have to find an immediate solution to prevent a law-and-order problem spiralling out of control.