East And West, Maharashtra Districts Fight Water Wars

In Solapur’s Sangola taluka, residents of 14 villages are threatening a fast unto death if water is not released for them from the Tembhu lift irrigation project on the Krishna river. Villagers believe the water is legally theirs, but is not released from the upstream regions of Sangli and Satara owing to political pressures.
Nearly 400 km away, on the other side of Maharashtra, Uttam Laxman Choudhari, 36, of Nalegaon in Nashik’s Dindori taluka seethes at the mention of his nearly 8 acres of black gram, finger millet, groundnut and paddy. From 10-12 quintals per acre of paddy, his yield this year is down to 15 kg from 5 acres, and he blames it similarly on “politically motivated” release of water of the east-flowing rivers from the western talukas of Nashik. The water was gone before the crop gained strength, he rages.
Further north, in Juni Bej village of Kalwan taluka in Nashik, residents joined a rally called by the All India Kisan Sabha last week with their specific demand that water from the Chankapur dam across the Girna river not be released towards Malegaon and Chandwad, eastern talukas of Nashik, and further on towards the arid central Maharashtra region of Marathwada.
Across Maharashtra, as farmers mull another season of severe losses, disputes over scarce water resources have begun to percolate down to village and taluka levels. Earlier this month, the Nashik district administration released water for Jayakwadi, Marathwada’s largest dam, after the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition against the release to water-scarce lower riparian areas. Even so, the release of water had to be done under the protective gaze of Riot Control Police teams.