Nearly 1,200 villages and 455 hamlets are dependent on water tankers in Maharashtra's Marathwada region, a revenue department official said on Thursday.
The drought-prone Marathwada region in the central part of the state comprises eight districts - Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Hingoli, Dharashiv, Latur, Parbhani and Nanded.
Due to less rainfall last year, water availability in the area has gone down. As a result, many villages have become dependent on tankers, the official said.
"Government agencies are ferrying water to 1,193 villages and 455 hamlets through 1,758 tankers," according to a report from the divisional commissioner's office.
Maximum tankers in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district
At 678, the most number of tankers have been deployed in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district. These tankers are supplying water to 412 villages and 61 hamlets.
In neighbouring Jalna district, 488 tankers are ferrying water to 329 villages and 75 hamlets, an official said.
The tanker figure in Beed is 399. Here 321 villages and 293 hamlets are dependent on tankers, the report says.
