Bhilwara (Rajasthan): In a frantic attempt to avoid robbery of water due to a heavy shortage, locals in Rajasthan's Parasrampura village are forced to keep the water drums locked outside their houses.
With the temperature hovering around 45 degrees in most parts of the state, water scarcity has become a big issue of concern pressing locals to continue with limited availability.
The locals of Parasrampura village get drinking water once in a week from Hindustan Zinc Limited. This triggered some in the area to rob water from others.
"Due to acute shortage of water, there have been cases of water theft at night a couple of times. So, we have decided to put locks in our drums to save our share of water," a local said.
Such is the situation that the locals have started to guard their water drums and even consider it more valuable than gold.
"We never thought that a day will come when people will rob water. Looking at circumstances, it has become more precious to us than gold and silver," another local said.
Not just that, there have been cases of fights among individuals due to the water crisis.
A lady from the village said: "The panchayat has asked us to preserve water and put locks on drums. People are fighting with each other because of this. These things won't happen if we will be provided water in every 2-3 days."
The situation is quite similar in other Indian states including Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh.
