Newsletter No. 64;
IRBMS
Ghorawal and Robertsganj are in dark zones with remains on how the government plans to tackle
respect to groundwater availability. A massive this water crisis in Tikamgarh, and other drought-
awareness prone regions of Madhya Pradesh? Do they have
drive
on
rainwater
harvesting
is
required to recharge groundwater table.
any short-term and long-term plans to counter this
problem? Why nothing was concrete done in the
Acute Water crisis in MP
past three years to avert this crisis despite clear
In MP Tikamgarh, District located about 275 km indications of water shortage?
from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh is facing acute Quick facts about the water crisis in Madhya
water crisis for the past three years. Women and Pradesh –
children of different villages are forced to walk a
distance of 5 km every day at 40 o Celsius, for water.
Particularly in the summer the ponds and rivers
dry up causing the groundwater table to dip.
•
drought-hit in Madhya Pradesh.
•
no help or very little help has come so far, many
in fetching water.
The government records, on the other hand, paint
a very different picture of the Tikamgarh district.
According to the records, tap water scheme has
been introduced in 318 villages of the district out of
which 233 are functional. Only 85 villages have this
provision. Records also indicate that 9544 hand
pumps were installed in the villages out of which
in
Chambal,
Gwalior
and
areas.
•
Kwari,
Seep,
Kadwal,
Amral,
Varma,
Gourya and Sonar rivers have dried up
villagers have to walk till UP border to get water.
Children cannot go to school as all their time goes
Districts
Bundelkhand region are the worst-affected
Recently, the distraught villagers informed Govt,
officials about this acute water shortage. However,
132 tehsils in 18 districts are declared
causing the groundwater to go down.
•
Out of 16, Water bodies in 10 municipal
corporations have almost dried up.
•
People spend Rs 1,600 a week to purchase
water from tankers.
•
A 29 Km long water supply pipeline project
from Manikheda dam is still incomplete.
•
Major migration has occurred from these
drought-hit areas for fear of survival.
7849 are active whereas 1695 are non- functional. Rajnandgaon district villages in
The ground reality is entirely different. The quality Chattishgarh facing acute Water Crisis
of water villagers are drinking is also questionable
as it is and may cause health issues. The question
In Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district, around 70
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Integrated River Basin Management Society