Mill spoils Latur village’s efforts to beat water crisis

Ruining months of de-silting efforts by villagers of Darji Borgaon village in Renapur tehsil of Latur district, which is facing an acute water crunch, Rena co-operative sugar mill, controlled by a Congress legislator, allegedly discharged tonnes of molasses in a water reservoir. This has made the water unfit for drinking.

The sugar mill is controlled by Dilip Deshmukh, sitting Congress’ member of the state Legislative Council and brother of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister of the state. The Asian Age visited Latur to see how the city successfully met its water crisis and acquired sufficient stock of storage through Jalyukt Shivar and people’s participation without government aid.

A small river flows from Darji Borgaon, which has a population of around 2,000. The district administration had, a long time ago, dug a well near the course of the river. According to advocate Jabbar Pathan, a local resident, the well was the only source of water during the rainy season. Mr Pathan said last year, social activists from Art of Living organisation motivated the villagers to contribute towards building a cement dam over the river. “On July 30, following the first rain of the monsoon, the dam was filled with water for 5km. We were happy, thinking our water crises were over for the whole year. But on the fourth or fifth day after the rains, Rena cooperative sugar mill discharged a huge amount of molasses into the river and the water became unfit for drinking,” Mr Pathan said.

Bhagwat Mane, deputy sarpanch of the village said, “Villagers got skin disease after using the water for bathing. We brought it to the notice of tehsildar and officers of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board on August 5 and they declared the water as unfit to drink.”

Despite repeated efforts, Mr Deshmukh was not available for comment.