Madhya
Pradesh: Water Becoming Reason Of `Civil War'
By Sachin Kumar Jain
03 July, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Mandideep
is a big industrial area just near the capital Bhopal and not in some
other remote place of the state. The state government has not left any
stone unturned to nurture the capitalists in this area. But, when it
came to providing drinking water to the common people working in these
big industries, the government almost turned Nelson's eye towards the
issue. In a locality where drinking water is supplied just once in ten
days, it is natural that the people would run helter-shelter to collect
water. Among the 16 existing tube wells, water levels in four have gone
down drastically while others are marred by power supply problem. It
is dangerous to assume that a good rainfall or Monsoon will help us
in resolving water crisis. We need to review and critically examine
behavior and values towards the use of Water.
A dangerous indication is
lurking in Mandideep and this indication is regarding collective right
on water. The Mandideep Municipality had demanded drinking water share
from the Betwa Barrage near the industrial area, but the Water Resources
Department made it clear that only the industrial units have rights
on the water of the Barrage. Owing to rampant exploitation of groundwater
and bad management, the water level in the entire area has gone down
by four meters, but in government records, it is yet considered a water-secure
area. The reason being that even if the residents don't get enough drinking
water, the water utility in the area is 40 litres per person per day,
not to mention that 37 litres of this water is used by the industry.
The matter of surprise is that before the onset of summer, the water
resources minister had proclaimed at Ratlam on February 24, 2007 that
since the monsoon last year was good, the state would not face any water
crisis this season. This makes it clear that the government does not
attach any importance to management of water but only depends on the
amount of rain during a particular monsoon. But this government attitude
is very dangerous for the society because the way the environment has
been harmed and the way it is being manifested in global warming, even
good monsoon would not be able to help.
Rampant stop dams were constructed
across the state in the name of water conservation and still dams are
being constructed, but the president of the Harda Municipality, the
councilors and the local people demolished a dam on the Ajnal River
on May 4, 2007 as due to the dam the water distribution system was hugely
affected leading to lowering of water level near the Birjakhedi Pump
House and people stopped getting drinking water. Owing to destruction
of forests, urbanization and bad management of water, the rivers in
Madhya Pradesh have started drying up and thus the dependence on groundwater
had increased multiple times. The government is also working in a contradictory
manner. On one hand the government made provision of Rs 90 crores in
the 11th five year plan to increase the groundwater level and on another
it has decided to spend more Rs 180 crores for exploitation of groundwater.
As per the present economic
and industrialization policy, the state government has shown a commitment
to provide power and water in subsidized rate. But as far as the common
people are concerned, they would have to be always dependent on tankers
for water supply. This year the government would be spending Rs nine
crores on providing 30000 tankers of drinking water, but the common
people have already privately spent Rs 3.5 crores on fulfilling their
own drinking and domestic water demands.
The most basic need of life
is water, without which it is difficult to maintain one's entity and
because it is the biggest need of life, it has become a commodity of
profit in the market. Also, government has allowed the markets to take
benefit of the situation. On one side the industrial units are exploiting
water excessively and rampantly and on other hand the multinational
and even the domestic companies are using 41 litres of water to produce
one litre of cold drink.
Ironically, the state government that swears by the teachings of Babas,
Swamis and encourages Yoga education does not believe in the traditional
methodologies of water and environment conservation. However, the executive
chief of the state and the ministers certainly make foreign `study'
tours along with the bureaucrats. The situations that are developing
owing to scarcity of water in the state are really worrying.
It is said that the next
world war would be fought for water, but there is a need to change this
thought. Actually, water would lead to civil war. In the year 2005,
as many as 2007 cases of clashes due to water were registered, the figure
rose to 303 in 2006 and by now in 2007, already 587 cases have been
registered. This year even the people's representatives of local civic
bodies in Shivpuri, Harda and Indore came out on streets to protest
state government's policies. According to the latest figures of Central
Ground Water Board (government agency monitoring/analyzing ground water
situation), groundwater levels in 22 districts have decreased by two
to four meters while in 14 districts the drop is more than four meters.
But we are yet digging deeper into earth for water as a result of which
the issue of quality of water is becoming very important.
Bhopal is considered the
worst endemic city for gastroenteritis in the country and in 22 districts
the amount of fluorides in water is above permissible limits. As per
a study, 16000 children in Seoni district and 120 villages in Guna district
are affected the flourosis. Children do not get clean drinking water
in about 30118 schools.
As per the Public Health
Engineering Department of the state government, out of the 8192 water
taps and other schemes supplying surface water, 1507 schemes are not
working while as many as 9988 handpumps have also been closed down due
to lack of water. What more could be expected from the state when as
many as 24517 human settlements are such where the government has not
been able to provide the minimum need of water. Most of these settlements
are three to five km away from water sources.
In reality, the problems
of livelihood and employment are marring the lives of more than three
crore people in state and now they are not even getting enough water.
In such situation the state government would have to remember that it
should not allow the limits of the basic needs and basic rights of people
to become so restricted that people get suffocated. Scarcity of water
is not something that the people would accept silently. This would lead
to reactions. Presently, the struggle is divided, but the struggle would
get unified and this would not be a communal or casteist, but in this
case, the common people would be confronting the government.
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