Nandurbar faces water shortage as unpaid bills make contractors halt Jal Jeevan Mission work

Water scarcity in Nandurbar district could worsen in the coming days. A review meeting was held under the chairmanship of former Tribal Development Minister Dr Vijaykumar Gavit. According to the administration's estimate, 622 villages in the district may face shortages, and more than 100 of them may need water supplied by tanker.

Officials at the meeting were told to complete the pending projects under the Jal Jeevan Mission as soon as possible, and to follow up on works held up for want of funds. They were also instructed to take measures such as installing hand pumps and supplying water from wells. The administration is drawing up an action plan in phases to deal with the shortage.

Villagers are suffering as the shortage deepens. Rivers and streams in the villages have dried up, and people have to run around a great deal for a single pot of water. Both farmers and ordinary residents are affected. Against this background, the meeting was held in the presence of Nandurbar Assembly constituency MLA Vijaykumar Gavit, and some important decisions were taken on what can be done for the district.

It was said that the state government has declared a drought and that no rain has fallen for the past two months, which has caused the severe shortage in Nandurbar. In the drought conditions, wells and streams in villages have dried up. The government has decided to try to bring water to every household through the Jal Jeevan scheme. The meeting also said that wells would be acquired to try to supply water to people.

The meeting brought out that in most of the 51 villages in Nandurbar, the Jal Jeevan Mission water supply scheme has not been completed despite crores of rupees being spent. The scheme has been run through the Zilla Parishad's water supply department and the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. Even so, water has still not reached many villages. At present, the Prakasha barrage and the Virchak dam on the Tapi river have plenty of water.

That the water is in the dams but is not reaching people's homes is a bitter picture of the situation. The scheme estimates contained errors, so many schemes have been stuck with the government for about a year and a half awaiting revised estimates. In the schemes whose estimates are correct, contractors have stopped work because their bills are held up.

Group schemes for several villages also could not be completed because of poor planning, including permission to cross the railway line and approval from the highway department to use the roadside. Over this, many people alleged directly before MLA Vijaykumar Gavit that in this scheme the system worked only to feed the contractors.