Water crisis in Madhya Pradesh takes ugly turn

State authorities promise regular water supply after investing Rs 600 crore in the Narmada water supply project, even as an 18-year-old girl Poonam Yadav in Indore, 200 km from here, was stabbed to death, when she reportedly refused to let her neighbours draw water from a tap in her home.

Against the complainant’s plea that the culprit, one Hukum Yadav, fatally wounded her, the government ministers are ruling out any tiff over water issue and terming it a love affair. The matter is under investigation.

Although no official statement has come so far, Minister for Urban Administration and Development Babulal Gaur said, “Water crisis is not the reason behind the murder, there are other reasons. I have taken notice of it and it seems it was a family feud. Indore has sufficient water supply and the local municipal body has restored regular water supply after completion of Narmada Phase-III .”

“One Hukam Gaud stabbed the girl five times outside Poonam Yadav’s home in Bakshibaug area,” a police source said. “She was immediately rushed to the hospital where doctors pronounced her dead,” the source said. A senior police official, D Sriniwas Rao, however, told BS on phone from Indore, “Water crisis is one of the reasons but not the prime reason behind the crime, it has been reported by the complainant; prima facie love-affair also seems one of the reasons. We are investigating the matter.”

As mercury is soaring across the state, water crisis has plagued Indore, Bhopal and other hundred small towns. Indore and other places of the Malwa plateau are the worst hit as the entire plateau is gradually converting into desert and water table is receding fast. Last year Indore civic bodies have taken control of bore-wells which were commercially used.

Except for Narmada phase-III, Indore receives 16-17 million litres water per day (MLD) from Yashwant Sagar dam against its need of 190-200 MLD. Narmada project is supposed to add another 360 MLD but it is yet to get to its full capacity.

“In most of the areas of the town Indore Municipal Corporation has yet to transport water through tankers to ensure regular drinking water supply,” a local from Indore said, who now has to shell out Rs 230 per month to receive regular tap water supply from the municipal corporation.

The Municipal Corporation of Bhopal has raised water supply charges from Rs 60 to Rs 180 in the state capital though it supplies water once in two days.

“The water supply rates may cross Rs 300 per month per connection once the Narmada water supply project becomes operational,” a senior official said adding, “regular water supply in Bhopal is yet far.”

Bhopal gets 45 per cent of its water supply from upper lake and the rest from nearby Kolar dam. “We will restore regular water supply once demand perks up,” Babulal Gaur said adding, “We have sufficient water in Bhopal.”

If sources are believed of the total 339 local bodies 120 are facing water shortage due a continuous dry spell in the recent past and more than 150 could not supply water regularly.

“Hardly 50 percent of MP’s population gets sufficient water,” said a government source.