Telangana: Tribal women bear brunt of drinking water crisis in Adilabad, Asifabad
The women from various tribal communities are trekking long distances to fetch drinking water from open wells located away from their homes and bore wells situated on the outskirts of villages
Adilabad/Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Tribal women are bearing the brunt of the drinking water crisis prevalent in different parts of both Adilabad and Kumram Bheem Asifabad districts.
The women from various tribal communities are trekking long distances to fetch drinking water from open wells located away from their homes and borewells situated on the outskirts of villages. Significantly, they are carrying water-filled pots on their heads, facing scorching heat conditions. These scenes reflect how the drinking water crisis affects women in many villages of the two districts.
Residents, who were facing a severe drinking water crisis due to lack of supply water through the Mission Bhagiratha scheme, were no option but to walk for two kilometres to fetch a few pots of drinking water from a borewell located in a farm at Mamidiguda hamlet under Andhguda village in Indervelli mandal for the last few days on April 4.
Tribal women from Thoyaguda village in Indervelli mandal drew headlines for bringing drinking water pots from a bore-well in a farm recently. They trekked over two kilometres to gather just a pot of water, while the men of this village transported water in plastic drums loaded in bullock carts. Their plight can be attributed to the interrupted supply of drinking water through Mission Bhagiratha.
Similarly, women residing belonging to aboriginal tribes in remote areas and hilly regions are gathering water from pits or chelama in the riverbeds of streams located in forests risking their lives as they are prone to be attacked by wild animals. They are forced to collect water at the seasonal sources with electric motors of the drinking water scheme becoming defunct, affecting supply of the water.
“Typically, it is women who are affected by the drinking water in a village more than men in almost every summer. They have to walk for longer distances carrying pots of water meant for not only drinking needs of their families, but cooking food, cleaning utensils and washing clothes every day. Its arduous, but inevitable,” Mesram Nago Rao, an elder of a village, said.
On March 5, women and men of remote Enoli village in Wankidi mandal staged a sit-in in front of the IDOC as part of their protest. They demanded the officials to take steps to address the drinking water crisis.
