Maharashtra: Water crisis hits Kawatha, villagers forced to fetch water from pit

People residing in Kawatha village in Akola are facing water crisis with the onset of summer. The locals here are forced to dig pits to battle with the ongoing crisis of water shortage.

"For even filling one pot, we have to wait for at least 2 to 3 hours. Children are also not able to attend schools. Each member of the family is forced to walk miles to fetch water from this pit. We have 1600 families living in the area and do not have any source of clean drinking water," said Ganesh Chavan, a local.

"The issue of shortage of water is making our lives difficult. We can drink the water from the handpump as the water is salty. I urge the government to provide us with clean drinking water at the earliest," said Srikant Chavan, another local.

The repercussions are so grave that the students are forced to miss out on schools and colleges to fetch water for their loved ones."Have to adjust college timings as we have to fetch water, it affects our studies, takes hours to fill 1 container,1600 people consume water from a single pit," said Rishikesh Chavan, a student from Akola.

Besides Betul, with mercury on the rise across the nation, residents of Betul also facing hardships due to water shortage in the area. The crisis has also returned to haunt the people of Latur. People's only source of water is a tanker which reaches them, but not so frequently.