Manikpur (Chitrakoot)11 hours agoWriters: Jitendra Mishra / Vikas Kumar
20 thousand population of 10 villages of Chitrakoot is facing water scarcity. This is affecting the social fabric. The situation is such that no father wants to marry his daughter in these villages. 50% of the youth of these villages are still bachelors. Even if someone gets married, he goes out to live with his daughter-in-law. Even the daughter-in-law who are in the village, their daily time of 7 to 8 hours goes to fetch water. Some bring water by bullock cart, some by placing a bucket on their head.
Dainik Bhaskar of Manikpur Tehsil of Chitrakoot Gopipur, Jaro Mafi, Chureh Kesharua, Sarhat, Gidurha, Ranipur Kalyangarh, Kota Kandila, Unchadih, Alaha, Badheha were traced to reality and the astonishing truth came to the fore.
Due to water in Gopipur (population 5 thousand), 50% of the boys are single.
In Chitrakoot’s Manikpur tehsil, people have to struggle daily for water in villages like Gopipur, Jaro Mafi, Gidurha etc. Every day in the scorching heat, queues of women are seen for two to three kilometers. The condition is that from morning till evening, the battle to collect water for daily life is fought. Gopipur has a population of about 5 thousand. There are 8 hand pumps in the village. 3 of them are running bad. Due to this the water crisis has become acute. People have to bring water by bullock cart or other vehicles two-three km away.
In Gopipur, girls have to come to get water from a well built two km away from the village, due to which they are not able to go to school. 4 to 5 hours are spent in filling water from the well.
wife did not come after marriage
Villager Nagesh Prasad Dubey says that due to the problem of water, for the last six to eight years, my wife has been living with her daughters. There is no water here even for bathing. A couple of boxes of water are available. What happens in that? The wife is no longer ready to come to the village. Village elder Devi Dayal told that there is a lot of water problem in the village. Often there are fights among themselves for water. To fill water in the village, there is a line since morning. People do not marry off their children. There are 50 boys who are not married.
Jialal’s age has crossed 40. Till now their marriage has not happened only because of water.
Young people got old waiting for marriage
At the same time, 45-year-old Jialal says that due to water problem, the marriage has not happened yet. It is my nephew, now it is expected from him that he will serve in old age. He said that this is not my problem but this is the problem of the entire village. Gopipur village head Shyam Lal said that there is acute shortage of water. The government administration has been informed. Recently, the government has done boring again, but water has not been received. Two tankers are being run from the gram panchayat level, from which water is being given to the villagers.
In Gopipur village of Manikpur tehsil, only 75 marriages have taken place in the last 4 years, due to paucity of water, people shy away from marrying daughters in this village.
When I saw the condition of the water, the marriage broke up.
Vimal Kumar told that my marriage was fixed two months ago. I used to work in Ahmedabad. They had fixed their marriage there, but when the girl’s family came to see the village, they saw the problem of water. On this he canceled the marriage. One has to go one to two km away to get water in the village.
The marriage of Vimal from Ahmedabad was fixed two months ago, but seeing the condition of water in the village, the girl’s people refused to marry.
School time is spent in filling water
Gudiya, Naina and Vandana, who came to fetch water about a km away from the well near Gopipur, were seen in trouble. Vandana told that the whole day is spent in fetching water. That is why you have also left your studies in the middle. I come every day to fetch water with a bullock cart. Had to leave school because of waterlogging and household chores. Vandana told that about 40 to 50 percent girls of the village drop out of school only because of waterlogging. It’s time for the school to fill the water. That’s why they can’t study.
Even in Jaromafi village, women have to wander for two km daily for water. Women say that the whole day is spent in fetching water.
Jaromafi-population (400 to 450)– women fetch water from two km away
Ram Kishan, a villager of Jaromafi, says that all the leaders come here to take votes, but the condition of development works is zero. The handpumps in the village have failed. There is no one to correct them. One has to go for filling water for one and a half to two km. In such a situation, women suffer the most. The village has a population of 400 to 450, but there is no water facility.
Due to failure of three hand pumps in Kota Kandela village, one has to go for one to two km to fill water.
Kota Kandela Village – Population (4500–5000) Three hand pumps installed, they also got damaged
Prema Devi of Kota Kandela village says, ‘There is a lot of water shortage here, sir, two years ago the head had installed three hand pumps in the village, but when the water started filling from there, the hand pump also got damaged. Animals also have a lot of problem for water. One has to go one to two km away for water. A complaint was made about the poor hand pump in the village, but no arrangement has been made so far. Have to go for water for two to two and a half km’.
At the same time, Sadha Devi told that three hand pumps were installed in the village, but they too have got damaged. Now the problems have increased in the summer. The whole day is spent in filling water. One or two cows are buffalo. Now it is difficult to arrange water for yourself. So how to do for animals. This is what worries me. Sometimes a water tanker comes to the village.
The elders of these villages say that the problem of water is making life difficult here. Because of this, girls in the village shy away from bringing a relationship.
Karoha–population (7000–7500) ‘Filling water is like fighting a war’
Barati Lal of Karoha village told that there is a lot of water problem in the village. There are about 5 to six hand pumps in the village, but all of them are bad. In such a situation, the whole house has to struggle since morning for water. For about one to one and a half km, people go to get water for their homes. Filling water for us is no less than fighting a war.
Wells and hand pumps have dried up in Gidurha village, due to which six hours are wasted in filling water. According to the people, even the water available from the government tanker is not enough.
Gidurha village – 8 hours isted in filling water
Shiv Naresh Yadav of Gidurha village says that most of the time is wasted in filling the water. One has to go daily to get water from a kilometer away. Only 5 cans can be filled with the government tanker that comes. We fill water with bullock cart from the well every day. It fills 10 to 12 cans with water. It takes 3 to 4 hours to bring water at a time. Six to eight hours are wasted in filling water in the morning and evening. We are not able to do other work because of water logging. Social worker Gajendra Singh told that a solar powered bore showpiece has been made in the village. Outside the village, the Jal Sansthan had made a bore to supply water to the village of Darai. Due to this supply was being given in the village. It also got spoiled due to lack of care.
Shiv Naresh of Gidurha village says that the biggest task is to fill water daily for us, water has to be brought from two km away by bullock cart. 6 to 7 hours of the day are wasted.
The same problem of water is more or less in Chitrakoot’s Chureh Kesharua, Sarhat, Gidurha, Ranipur Kalyangarh, Kota Kandela, Unchadih, Ailha Badheha villages. Here one has to go for two to three km to get water.
Work going on under Namami Gange
In this matter, Chitrakoot DM Shubhrant Kumar Shukla told that two tankers have been installed for the gram panchayats where there is a problem of water. Boring is also being done here. The problem of drinking water will end in these gram panchayats after a few days. Under Namami Gange, the work is going on at a brisk pace in the district.
There are many proverbs about water in Bundelkhand
Many proverbs about the problem of drinking in Bundelkhand are also recorded in history. This is the story of Bundelkhand, neither water to the stomach, nor water to the field” and “Bhaura tera pani gajab kar jaye, Gagar does not burst, even if Khasam dies”. Once upon a time there used to be ‘fire’ in the water of Bundelkhand. Someone had written ‘Listen to the story of Bundelas, in Bundeli speech, water in the water here, fire in the water here’. Today that fire is extinguished, the water has dried up.
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