Alok K N Mishra, TNN | Apr 3, 2013, 11.17 AM IST
RANCHI: Jharkhand is reeling under severe water crisis and the situation has worsened with the drying up of lakhs of hand-pumps and taps due to falling of water table.
Administration is of little help as only 15% of the state's total water requirement is met by government agencies. Given this situation, clashes over water is natural and such brawls have become common almost in every part of the state.
An elderly woman was stoned to death on June 23, 2009, in Vishnugarh block of Hazaribag district after a dispute over drawing water from a public hand pump snowballed into a major clash.
Vishnugarh is one of the worst-affected areas in the state with 300 of its 350 hand-pumps lying defunct.
In Hazaribag, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Chatra, Gumla and also in the state capital frequent incidents of clashes related to water are reported every summer.
The state was declared drought-hit in two consecutive years, 2009 and 2010, and then again in 2012 and almost every district has reported alarming fall in water table.
The unplanned growth of the cities coupled with arbitrary boring for water have also contributed to the unprecedented fall in groundwater level.
The groundwater directorate of Jharkhand administration has already pressed the alarm button that the state is heading towards a bleak future in terms of availability of water.
Frequent quarrels and a few violent clashes over water issues have forced citizens of Bagbera locality in East Singhbhum district to seek police help. "The local residents have asked us to provide security when water is distributed," said inspector of Bagbera, Arun Kumar Rai.
Clashes usually occur because the supply is too inadequate to meet the huge demand, said the president of Bagbera Maha Nagar Vikash Samiti (BMNVS) and a social activist, Subodh Kumar Jha. "Only five to six tanks of water are allotted to 3 lakh citizens," said Jha. Of the total 23 panchyats only one panchyat gets piped water in Bagbera locality.
"Mango is a notorious place and has earned a bad name for such violent clashes over water disputes most of which take place in slum areas. The disputes, which are minor, are handled by smaller police outposts. In most of the cases the fighting groups are brought together and a compromise is reached between them," said Arun Kumar Rai, who was the officer-in-charge of the Mango police station from May 2009 to August 2011.
Clashes over water collection are routine in Birsanagar locality of Jamshedpur where Moharda Jalapurty Yojna, a scheme to provide enough water to 1 lakh households, is not properly implemented for the last six years, said the president of Bhartiya Bhojpuri Sangh, Anand Bihari Dubey.
Severe clashes were reported in Birsanagar in the last two years, said Dubey. Officer-in-charge of Birsanagar police station Navin Kumar Rai, agreed that water has become a cause of regular dispute in the locality.
Clashes are common in the state capital's perched localities like Hindpidhi, Bhuiyatoli, and some slum areas in Madhukum, Islamnagar, said JVM leader and water activist Rajiv Ranjan Mishra. The inspector of Hindpidhi, D K Verma, agreed. "The clashes were not of that serious nature and did not call for FIRs," he added.
Against a total requirement of 2000 billion litre of water for 3.36 crore people, the state agencies provide only 15%. A huge 85 per cent population is dependent on groundwater sources which have gone down at an alarming rate in the past 10 years. Geologists say people in Jamshedpur now have to drill 500 feet in the ground to reach the water source which was readily available at 150 feet 10 years ago.