SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, MUMBAIJUNE 29, 2014 15|

IN RURAL JALNA, RESIDENTS ARE BUYING WATER BY THE LITRE FROM'WATER TRADERS', AS TAPS STAY DRY FOR UP TO TWO WEEKS AT A TIME

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LYING IN WAITThe rains should be here by now, bringing relief to parched villagers and wateringfields. Instead, the dark clouds are missing and anxiety is turning to desperation. A look at the preparationsand prayers in Jalna, in the state’s lowest rainfall zone, and Mahabaleshwar, its highest. By Riddhi Doshi

The indoor season has begun inMahabaleshwar taluka. As therains lash this scenic hill sta-tion in Satara district, residentswill lock themselves inside for days at a stretch.

But first, usually by mid-June, the preparations begin.People paste plastic sheets overentire windows. Homes, shops,

restaurants and hotels are boarded upwith homemade hay panels.

“Mahabaleshwar gets the highest rain-fall in the state,” says KS Hosalikar, headof the Indian Meteorological Departmentin the western region.

Schools take a one-month monsoonbreak, from July to August; tourism, themainstay of the area, dwindles to just20%. Local businesses operate only for a few hours a day. It will be this way untilthe heaviest rains begin to retreat, inmid-August.

Making the most of this forced vacation,shopkeepers and local businessmen go onfamily vacations during this time. “We goanywhere with less rain,” says shopkeeperUmesh Bowlekar, 28, laughing.

With supplies scarce, residents usually stock up on large amounts of wheat, riceand foodgrains, and on coal and firewood.

“We’ve stocked up on 70 kg of coal and anequal amount of wood,” says retired educa-tion officer Ramchandra Vaikar, 58, who lives in Kumbharoshi village with his son,daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

Firewood is carefully wrapped in a plasticand stacked in an extra-dry corner. It will beessential for cooking — it’s difficult to go outand buy coal or get firewood in this season— for warming the home in case of power outages, and even for drying clothes.

Warm and dry, with food enough for the season, the one worry becomes how to keep the children and grandchildrenoccupied on the long monsoon days.

“With no electricity for hours at a timeand mundane food, it’s a task keeping themfrom getting cranky,” says Vaikar's wifeBabytai, 60, a homemaker.

So granddaughter Priyanka and herfriend Ashwini Sawant, 17, get togetherand play carrom and Ludo. “We play againand again and again,” says Priyanka. “Bythe end of monsoon, we could participatein a world carom championship.”

A more serious problem is the moneyincurred in treating family members fromthe frequent fevers, chills and occasion-ally malaria. There is also considerable expense in both preparing for the mon-soon and repairing the damage it causes. “We end up spending about Rs 25,000,sometimes even more, to fix up the houseafter each rainy season,” says Babytai.This includes fresh plastering and scrub-bing moss off the roof.

This family is lucky, though. NeitherRamchandra’s pension nor his son’s sal-ary as a government teacher are cut dur-ing these non-working months.

Asif Patel, 35, of Nakinda village is less fortunate. Come rain or shine, heand his three brothers must operate theirroasted corn business. “We create a roofof umbrellas and roast our bhutta under-neath,” says Patel. “Thankfully, thesedays there are at least a few adventurousyoungsters even in the monsoon, to buy our corn.” Those laid off from work at hotels, restaurants and resorts also gowithout pay during this season.

For Sandeep Ranjhan, 37, andShatrugan Vaikar, 37, though, monsoonis peak season. These self-taught handy-men run an informal business in help-ing people wrap up their houses, shopsand hotels.

“This is the best time of year for us,”says Ranjhan, grinning. “Every day, we get at least eight to ten calls. Often, weeven have to turn down work.”

This time, however, the rains are solate that Mahabaleshwar’s 58,000 paddy farmers are beginning to worry. “We have sown our seeds and are now waiting,”says Lakshman Vaikar, 72, of Warad vil-lage. “If it doesn’t rain soon, we could bein serious trouble.”

The rich and poor alike are buying water in Jalna district,paying as much as Rs 7 per litre.

It’s June 26 and the monsoonis nearly three weeks late.

Jalna is part of Marathwada,that massive area that lies, parched, in Maharashtra’s rain-shadow region. There have been24 droughts here over the past

113 years — that’s an incidence of more than one every four years.

“It’s the highest incidence of droughtin Maharashtra,” says KS Hosalikar, headof the Indian Meteorological Departmentin the western region.

Trading in water had become so lucra-tive, in fact, that people were giving upjobs in Jalna city to either dig borewellsof their own or draw on private borewellsfor a price and sell the water at a mark-up.

Traders are granted access in exchange for about half a paise per litre drawn, andmust incur costs of labour and transport.

Every family that can afford it is a customer, because there is no water at thepublic taps for up to two weeks at a time.

As groundwater levels dip, however, even water traders have taken a hit.

This year, the situation is so grimthat those with stocks in their private borewells are no longer willing to sell.

Former taxi driver Sanjay Harbak,35, for instance, sunk his 150-metre-deep borewell in Badnapur village five yearsago and granted 40 water traders access. This year, he has slashed that numberto just five traders. “Until last year I hadwater at 80 metres at all times. This year, it’s below the 100-metre mark,” he says.

In a district where agriculture is themainstay, the missing monsoon spellsdoom for the area’s 3.71 lakh farmers.

“We finished sowing by May 15 becausethe rains usually arrive by June 7. Now those seeds are dead,” says Babarao Nagve,52, of Somdhana village. Yield on Nagve’s 11-acre farm has dropped by 50% over two years. “This year, I might have to sell part

of my plot to meet expenses,” he says.With no rain and no grass, Nagve's 10

heads of cattle are in jeopardy too.In neighbouring Badnapur, livestock own-

er Bhimrao Shinde, 65, has sold two of hisfive buffaloes to a butcher. “I bought them for Rs 40,000 each five years ago, and sold themfor Rs 7,000 each,” he says. “They were goingto starve to death. It was my only option.”

The butcher has made a killing. “Lastyear, I bought ten animals for Rs 15,000each in this period,” says Sheikh Qureshi,50. “This year I have bought 15 animals, each priced at about Rs 8,500.”

PARCHEDFor those who cannot afford to buy

water, the day revolves around finding it.Farm labourers Sangita, 28, and Mohan

Bhidve, 30, live in Badnapur village withtheir 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daugh-ter. They walk 2 km every day and then waitabout two hours for their turn at the com-munal well. Even this water is filthy becauselevels have dipped so low — and water is now only pumped out once every 10 to 15 days.

In Manjhar village, the scarcity was soacute that the panchayat bought a private well 10 days ago and began pumping waterinto the common well. Levels were so low

that the water was contami-nated and four families hos-pitalised with gastroenteritis.

Dr SS Budhane, who runs a private hospital, says he treatsat least five cases of water-borne diseases a day. “Oneaverage, at least one of thosedaily cases is serious and hasto be admitted,” he says.

In Jalna city too, thesituation is acute. “There have been cases of physicalassault over water,” says a local policeman.

“Water for us is as pre-cious as gold,” adds home-maker Manjri Ranjnekar, 35.

■ HomemakerManjri Ranjnekarposes with herpadlockedstorage tankoutside her homein Jalna city. Most familieslock their tanks toprevent theft.

■Schoolchildren rush home from school in therain. Schools in Mahabaleshwar have a one-month monsoon vacation, from July to August.■(Left) Babytai Vaikar, 60, a homemakerfrom Kumbharoshi village, demonstrates how a cane basket positioned over a tray of burning coal acts as a heated clothes rack tohelp dry clothes in the monsoon. Her family of six uses 2 kg of coal, worth Rs 50, everyday during the rains just to dry clothes.■(Above) Umesh Bowlekar, 28, plays a game of marbles with other shopkeepersoutside his ice-cream and snack store opposite Mahabaleshwar Lake. The store front has been draped in plastic to withstandthe lashing rains.■(Top) Workers at a go-karting centre nearMahabaleshwar Lake hose down therecreational vehicles after a heavydownpour. The go-karting centre is shut, asis the paddleboat centre adjoining the lake,as tourism plummets to 20% of normalvolumes here during the stormy monsoons.

■ WamanBarvadkar, 75, isin despair over the state of his2.5-acre farm inManjhar village,Jalna. With themonsoon alreadythree weeks late here, deepfissures have formed in thepacked dry earth.(Below left)One of the many dry wells inBadnapur village.

HT PHOTOS: VIJAYANAND GUPTA

MAHABALESHWARJALNA

■ A cow licks at a dry water pump in Badnapur. The lack of water and grass has forced farmers to sell cattle to butchers.

Jalna

Mahabaleshwar

Mumbai

Maharashtra

INDIA

Area

7,612 sq km

52 sq km

Average annualrainfall

Total population

Number of farmers

FACT FILEJalna districtMahabaleshwar taluka

728mm

5,886mm

13.04 lakh

72,830

43,698

Primary occupation

Agriculture

Tourism

3.71lakh