Hours after the first wagon train carrying 5.4 lakh litres of water arrived at latur from Miraj on Tuesday, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra Government to take steps to ensure that water was not just distributed among the people of parched town in Marathwada, but was also distributed among the people in nearby villages.
Hearing a PIl filed by economist and activist Prof. H M Desarda, a HC Division Bench of Justices V M Kanade and S M Karnik advised State’s acting Advocate General Rohit Deo: “Please ensure that apart from latur town, water goes to the nearby villages as well”.
In his response, Deo said: “When I was referring to latur, it was latur district. I am talking about the latur district.”
Deo informed the high court that the first water train reached latur in the wee hours of Tuesday and this was among the short term or immediate measures that the Government had undertaken to remedy the situation in the drought-hit parts of the State.
Deo told the court that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was constantly monitoring the situation. “In addition the Maharashtra State Disaster Management Authority that is headed by the Chief Minister too is taking stock of the situation,” he sadi.
Deo told the court that several long-term measures had also been initiated and one of these was a World Bank-funded project which would soon be undertaken.
“This is nearly `2,500 to `3,000 crore project and all eight districts of Marathwada region is covered besides other places. This is aimed at creating farm ponds, de-silting of water bodies, soil health, artificial recharge, ground water recharge and so on. The government, he said has also introduced the Jalyukta Shivar project which aims at making 25,000 villages drought free in five years,” the State AG told the court.
Earlier at around 1.30 am, the first “water train” comprising 10 wagons of a capacity 54,000 litres of water – reached latur from Miraj.
The water brought in by train from Miraj was taken to a nearby well of the capacity of 25 lakh litres. From the well, water was taken to the nearby filteration plant. After filtration, the district authorities have made arrangements to distributed the potable water among the residents of parched latur, which accounts for a population of 5 lakh, and nearby areas.
The train that arrived at latur on Tuesday was operated on a trial basis. Beginning April 17 or 18, two trains consisting of 50 wagons will carry 25 lakh litres each from Miraj to latur for distribution among the water-starved people of latur town and nearby villages.