In the tribal belts, residents don’t even know if their early symptoms are due to consumption of dirty water or because of Covid-19
Pramila Vele collects muddy water from a dry well in Kondachapada village. Pics/Hanif Patel
Every morning, tribal women and children in Palghar district have the task of fetching water from nearby wells. With no water connection in villages, this is their sole source of water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Often, the water is contaminated or muddy and gives people fever and cough. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, having these symptoms leads to particularly high levels of stress and hesitancy in seeking medical help.
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This, even as the district has several dams and adequate rainfall. Activists on the ground say that ‘a lack of strong political will’ is making tribals suffer. Pandurang Warghade from Chaas village in Mokhada taluka claimed that his wife, Pushpa, died after drinking contaminated water. “When I rushed her to a private hospital, doctors conducted a Covid-19 test as she had fever and coughing. I rushed her to a hospital in Dahisar as I could not get an oxygen bed in Boisar. She died on May 12,” Warghade told mid-day.
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Lata Jadhav, who resides in Thane and was visiting her maternal family in Chaas village, said, “I grew up here but there used to be no water shortage back then. We used to easily get water from nearby water bodies. But today, they have gone dry.”
“The water supplied to this village through tankers is not good. It gives people fever and cough. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has the same symptoms. With there being a perception that going to hospitals with Covid-19 means people die, tribals are not reporting their symptoms. There are many families in the village where people start sneezing and then fall sick. This could either be Covid-19 or infection from the drinking water. There’d be no way to know,” Jadhav said.
Dry wells, rivers
During visits to tribal villages in Jawhar and Mokhada talukas, mid-day saw several women and children flocking to mostly dry wells and filling containers with water, which they carried back to their villages several kilometres away.
Women and their daughters wash clothes at a well in Chaas village
A large well in Bedukpada village, Mokhada has gone dry but tribals still try to take whatever muddy water is left in it. “The road leading to the well from our village is a kucha road. It often leads to injuries on our legs and spillage,” said Sunita Ashok Valvi. To avoid the kucha road, villagers sometimes go to a nearby seasonal river where they dig the ground to create water pockets. “The nearby well has gone dry. If we dig the bed and the land near the seasonal river, we get some water,” Valvi added.
With no water connection in tribal belts of #Maharashtra’s #Palghar, nearby wells is the sole source of water for villagers for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Often, the water is contaminated or muddy and gives people fever and cough.
— Mid Day (@mid_day) May 19, 2021
Video courtesy: @DiwakarSharmaa pic.twitter.com/fu0ng0kreD
A group of tribal women and their adolescent daughters at a well in Kaprichapada village told mid-day that the well is refilled by one tanker every day. “The depth of the well is not adequate. If it were to be dug further, a water source would be found and we won’t have to ask the gram panchayat for tankers. But the landowner says his farm will be affected if the well is dug too deep,” said Sony Khutade, 45, who was at the well with her daughter Pinki, 28.
“We come here every day to fetch water. We have to climb an incline to reach our village on the other side. It is difficult to cross the uneven land with filled containers on our head,” said Bharti Ganpat Korda.
An empty well in Kondachapada village
No water for handwashing
Since none of the tribals knows about Covid-19 precautions, they do not follow the practice of regularly washing hands. “We take water only for cooking and cleaning utensils.”
A large well in Kondachapada village in Jawhar had only small pockets of water. Pramila Ganpat Vele, 34, was using a bucket tied to a rope to get the muddy water.
“Once the water is stable in a container, the dust gathers at the bottom and we can drink the water. The remaining muddy water can be used for cattle or to clean utensils,” Vele said.
Vele added, “When water is filled in this well, villagers from Kaptichapada and Nandanmal come before dawn to fetch it.”
Women and girls walk several kilometres daily, often on uneven terrains, to fetch water from wells and rivers
Several dams, yet no water
A source from the Water Conservation department of the state government told mid-day that despite having several dams in the region, tribals are deprived of clean water.
“There is Sayde dam in Mokhada taluka with 55 million cubic feet capacity, Kalshetipada dam is in Jawhar with a 60 million cubic feet capacity and there is Asnas dam in Wada taluka with a storage capacity of 53 million cubic feet,” said the officer.
“The water stored in these dams is used especially for irrigation. But if the environmental engineering department of Zila Parishad were to seek water to distribute in tribal villages for drinking purpose, we could provide it to them. But to the best of my knowledge, no such communication has taken place,” the officer said.
The heavily forested Palghar district also receives considerably high rainfall every year and the water collected in lakes is supplied to Mumbai.
Vivek Pandit, chairman of a panel appointed by the central government to check the status of tribal schemes told mid-day that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to pay over Rs 300 crore of water cess to Palghar and Thane districts. The two together have Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, and Lower Vaitarna lakes. “This water cess is pending for years. If the state government wants, the pending water cess can be recovered from the BMC and the amount can be used to create water connections in each tribal village,” Pandit said.
“The state government is focussing more on developing urban cities by making flyovers, highways, etc. but basic infrastructure in rural areas has been ignored,” said Pandit.
“A big pipeline has been installed to supply water from Palghar district to Mumbai. But to get the same facility for tribals, the state government says it has no money,” Pandit said.
Sunita Ashok Valvi
“An IIT-Bombay study conducted in Jawhar and Mokhada talukas in 2016-17 had suggested spending around R20 crore in the talukas to get rid of the water crisis but nothing has been done till date,” Pandit added.
“Because of the water crisis and shortage of other resources, locals are migrating to urban areas for livelihood,” Pandit said.
“I had suggested the previous state government led by Devendra Fadnavis to get a loan of Rs 5,000 crore to improve the water holding capacity in the hilly regions of Jawhar, Mokhada and other talukas where medium-sized dams can be made. Fadnavis had principally okayed the suggestion but it was stonewalled after the new government came in,” Pandit said.
Calls and messages to CEO Zila Parishad Siddharam Salimath and Tribal Development Commissioner Hiralal Sonawane went unanswered till the time of going to press.
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