The Hindu : Dalits refuse upper castes access to borewell

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Dalits refuse upper castes access to borewell

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA May 30. The Scheduled Caste people at Nimbarga in Gulbarga District have denied upper castes access to a drinking water source in the village.

According to reports reaching here, Nimbarga in Aland taluk had been facing severe drinking water shortage with all borewells going dry. To overcome this, the zilla panchayat and the district administration took up drilling of new borewells. However, all attempts to find drinking water failed in the areas inhabited by upper castes and the only borewell, which was drilled in the colony of Scheduled Castes on the outskirts of Nimbarga, struck sweet drinking water. The yield was estimated to be five inches, which would be enough to meet the drinking water requirements of Nimbarga.

However, the Scheduled Castes people refused to allow upper castes into their colony. They also refused to allow the officials to lay pipeline from the new borewell to supply water to others.

The issue had triggered a war of attrition between the Scheduled Castes and the upper castes in the water-starved village for the past one week.

The situation took a serious turn on Thursday night after an alleged attempt by a group of dalit youth to molest a married woman of upper castes in the village. The two groups clashed in front of the police station by throwing stones at each other. Eight persons were injured in the violence before police brought the situation under control.

A major complaint of upper castes in the village to the senior officials of the police and Revenue Department, who visited the spot, was that the local police had not registered complaints given by them against dalits while the complaints filed by dalits were registered immediately.

Taking a serious view of this, the Additional Superintendent of Police, P.D.Prakash, who is also in-charge Superintendent of Police, passed orders on the spot suspending a police constable on charges of dereliction of duties.

He also recommended disciplinary action against the police sub-inspector in-charge of the Nimbarga Police Station on charges of failure to discharge duties and restore peace.

Tension prevailed in Nimbarga last night when a large number of members of upper castes stormed the police station.

Meanwhile, the villagers, mostly upper castes, have called for a bandh in Nimbarga demanding withdrawal of all atrocity cases filed against upper castes and demanding action against those involved in the alleged molestation of a woman.

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