Maharashtra: Day before Eid, Sangli villagers struggle for drinking water

Locals of Mhaisal in Sangli have been dependent on the occasional water tankers for their daily needs ever since floods in the region disrupted the water supply in their village.

Several villagers, children and elders alike, were seen standing in long queues for water from a tanker here on Sunday.

This comes a day before Eid-al-Adha, in a village that largely consists of people from the Muslim community.

"Tomorrow is Eid but we don't have electricity or water. It has been eight days since the water shortage started. How will we offer namaz on the holy day," a Muslim woman told ANI.

According to the locals, a water tanker comes to the village to supply water every third day but that has barely been helpful to the villagers.

"We have been facing a lot of problems. People only get one or two buckets of water at the most. The next water tanker comes at least 3 days later. People don't even have water to drink. Some are forced to drink water from wells," said Rajiv Pathan, another villager.

Maharashtra has been widely affected due to floods owing to incessant rains in the state.

"Our children are crying from thirst, what are we supposed to do? We are forced to buy expensive drinking water from outside," said another Muslim woman from the village.