Villagers demand water, disrupt Janmabhoomi

By R. J. Rajendra Prasad

HYDERABAD, MAY 6. The on-going 12th round of Janmabhoomi programme, which is being conducted on the theme ``water and you'', is being disrupted here and there by people demanding immediate arrangements for providing drinking water in the villages.

There is acute distress in villages of Mahbubnagar, Medak and Nalgonda districts, because of a 80 per cent shortfall in the rainfall during the North East monsoon between October and December last year.

The CPI(M) has announced that it is opening six gruel centres in Mahbubnagar district to come to the rescue of the destitute population, and has asked for public donations for setting up more such centres. The Secretary of State unit of CPI(M), Mr. B. V. Raghavulu, has criticised the State Government for failing to rush water through tankers to the affected areas.

The Congress(I) has given a call for a State wide bandh on May 11 to protest against price rise and inadequate drought relief, to coincide with the bandh by trade unions that day.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, is touring two districts a day from May 1, participating in the Janmabhoomi programmes and talking of water conservation being taken up as a mass movement by way of a permanent drought relief measure.

A Water Conservation Mission was launched by Mr. Naidu recently, with eminent conservationists like Mr. Anna Hazare and Mr. Rajinder Singh as members, to take up a programme of constructing check dams and cantour bunding to slow down the flow of rain water and help it to percolate into the soil, instead of allowing to run off as at present. In some mandals of Mahbubnagar district, where watershed development was taken up last year, the situation is better than in the rest of the district.

Coastal Andhra districts received 523 mms of rain during the South West monsoon, between June and September last year, compared to the normal rainfall of 603 mms. The Telangana districts received 641 mms of rain compared to the normal of 764 mms. Rayalaseema had a 22 per cent deficit with 294 mms of rain instead of the normal 379 mms. In the North East monsoon, between October and December last, coastal Andhra received 224 mms, which is 29 per cent less, while the Telangana districts received 45 mms of rain, compared to its normal 98 mms and Rayalaseema 159 mms, which is 29 per cent less. The overall rainfall deficit for the full year comes to about 20 per cent, the State having received 670 mms of rain compared to the normal of 840 mms.

The impact of the drought has, however, been marginal on food production in the State. The total foodgrains production this year (1999- 2000) is estimated at 128.10 lakh tonnes, compared to the average production of 125 lakh tonnes between 1994-99. Rice production in 1999-2000 is estimated at 101.45 lakh tonnes, compared to the previous five year's average of 98.73 lakh tonnes. There is fall in groundnut production, which is estimated at 13.07 lakh tonnes while the five year average is 19.30 lakh tonnes.

A unique aspect of the present drought condition is that the ongoing Janmabhoomi programme has forced officials to conduct gram sabhas in about 20,000 villages, with the participation of a Mandal Revenue Officer and a Nodal Officer in charge of implementing decisions taken at the gram sabha, usually a gazetted officer at the district-level.

Since Panchayat elections are to take place before June 30, there is a sudden spurt of militant activism from candidates wanting to become Sarpanches, Mandal Presidents and Zilla Parishat Chairpersons.

The problem of drinking water shortage and distress is getting highlighted because people have started to express resentment towards the officials to force them to solve their problems first. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu has said that this a ``good development'' and this is the spirit of the programmes of self- help that he had initiated under Janmabhoomi in the first instance.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Regional
Next     : YSR lambasts CM over suicides