Mumbai: To address the scarcity of water in rural Maharashtra, Marathwada in particular, 400 new tankers to supply drinking water have been deployed across the state in a week. The number of tankers supplying drinking water was at 5,174 as of Monday, compared with 4,774 in late April and 2,600 in early March, according to data on the state government’s website. In the year-ago period, only 1,164 tankers were supply drinking water.
In October, Maharashtra had declared drought in 151 tehsils across 26 districts, covering almost half the state, due to deficient rainfall. Eight districts in Marathwada, traditionally a drought-prone area, were the worst hit. As of today, water availability in a total of 3,267 dams across the state was only 17.6% of the total storage capacity, compared with 30.02% at this time last year.
Latest data showed that together, the Beed, Aurangabad and Jalna districts have been sharing a bulk of the total 2,756 water tankers in Marathwada region. In late April, 2,534 tankers were deployed in the region. The Khandesh region is also reeling under a severe water crunch. A total of 1,226 tankers are currently operational in the five districts of the region, up from 1,149 tankers a week ago and 681 tankers at the beginning of March, the data showed.
