The much-dreaded water crisis is staring Maharashtra in the face, within just three months after the monsoon. On 31 October 2023, the state government had declared that 40 talukas in 15 districts were suffering from water shortages, which are called ‘drought’ in the common man’s lingo. The government’s declaration was based on the rainfall received in the June-September period, the groundwater situation and the condition of the kharif crop. As per the declaration, numerous villages in 24 talukas were reeling under serious drought conditions while 16 talukas faced medium situation. The government had to revise its declaration within days and the drought to be spread in 178 talukas.
Like in previous years, a package of government measures for drought mitigation was announced. This would cover waiver of various government levies like land revenue cess, power bills, restructuring of crop loans, a moratorium on recovery of bank loans, a hefty subsidy in power bills for agricultural pumps, concessions for exam fees for college and school students and more funding for MGNREGA works.
Ample indications were available from the summer of 2023 that the coming months would be fraught with increased temperatures and lesser rainfalls. In other words, the clear indication that a droughts would hit the state, resulting in water shortages and hence crop losses.
As highlighted by various expert bodies over the decades, the gap between the actual creation of irrigation potential and projections has varied from between 3 and 43 percent whereas the utilisation of the irrigation potential created has oscillated between nil and 86 percent ffor the period 2014–2021.
Maharashtra’s record on water management is not too impressive despite the fact that it has the maximum number of irrigation projects in the country. Droughts in recent years peaked in 2019, when the water reserves dipped to less than 20 percent. Even at the time and earlier, thousands of villages had been reeling under water shortages. The most suffering region was Marathwada, which continues to remain at the bottom of the chart.
The repeated spells of drought hit the rural poor most as their inability to find livelihood in their vicinity is intensified by depletion in sowing of rabi crops as water and capital both become scarce. This leads to forced distress migration from villages to urban areas and enhances dependence on the state, ultimately to the growing tendency to non-payment of power and water bills in the hope that these will be written off. Farmers’ organisations and political parties, too, show the lure of such sops by the government.
Various surveys have shown that among all the states in the country, Maharashtra perhaps has the highest cost of production for most crops. This makes agriculture unviable in many areas, especially where farmer suicides occur in alarming numbers. Considering the distress in the farming community, chief minister Eknath Shinde announced on 18 December that the state government planned to spend nearly Rs. 44000 crore for the agriculture sector with a view to empowering farmers. How far this helping hand extricates the farmers from facing the oncoming drought will depend upon the effectiveness of the delivery of the assistance.
As farming becomes especially tough in drought years in which low rural wages are offered to the day-labour, difficulties for the rural poor multiply and they are forced to accept any work so that they can support their families. This was seen when the monsoon months of July, August and September 2023 witnessed higher demand for work in Maharashtra under MGNREGA, as compared with the previous year’s same period.
As the year ends soon, Maharashtra is faced with an escalating water crisis. A major reduction in dam storage has become a stark reality due to an unsatisfactory monsoon this year. The situation has become so grim that tankers are seen everywhere and more are demanded by the day. Thousands of villages are even dependent on water tankers. The deficient rainfall has deepened the impact of drought. This being a critical year, the state government has declared drought conditions in all state regions and included more villages in the distress list.
To tackle the crisis, the state government has initiated various measures, including waiving examination fees for school and college students in drought-affected areas. Additional relief includes discounts in land cess, a moratorium on agricultural loan recoveries and a 33.50 percent reduction in accumulated power bills for agricultural pumps. The electricity board officials in declared shortage-hit villages are instructed not to disconnect power connections for agricultural pumps.
The current water storage in about 3000 small, medium, and large dams across the state stands at just around 70 percent against the 90 percent in corresponding period last year. As mentioned, Marathwada is the most severely affected region where the water storage is just over 37 percent while last year, it was more than 90 percent for the same period.
Maharashtra is estimated to be facing a water deficit of around 26 percent as of now. The insufficient rainfall is also affecting hydro power generation in the state.
On 30 September, the day which marked the end of monsoon, the water storage in dams across the state was only 74 percent of the consolidated storage capacity. The water availability data published by the water resources department on Sunday, 1 October, showed that against the state’s storage capacity of 40485.05 million cubic meters, the dams in Maharashtra had 30028.43 million cubic meters or 74.17% of total capacity. Out of six revenue divisions, only Nagpur (Eastern Vidarbha) and Kokan (Coastal Maharashtra) had more than 90 percent of storage in their dams. The remaining four divisions — Amaravati (Western Vidarbha), Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, (Marathwada), Nashik (Northern Maharashtra) and Pune (Western Maharashtra) – had less than 80 percent storage. After four good monsoons, Maharashtra is bracing for economical water usage till the arrival of the next monsoon.
The cycle of droughts and excess rainfall continues in Maharashtra. The river-linking plans are announced frequently but are left on paper once a critical situation is over. This year is no exception to this tendency. It is evident that the coming year will come with many challenges for the people and the government, especially thos connected with agriculture.
It is earnestly hoped that some durable and long-term mitigation measures are implemented in the state to bring in good days in future.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
