OPEN
FORUM
New Delhi, 2 April 2009
MP Water Crisis
‘BAND-AID’ APPROACH WON’T WORK
By Proloy Bagchi
The
Congress the other day flayed the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh (MP),
holding it responsible for the current water crisis in the State. Its spokesperson
for the state-level committee alleged that while the State was reeling under an
acute scarcity of water, the chief minister was busy in strategising for the
oncoming general elections. He also alleged that crores of rupees were
sanctioned for water conservation and recharging of aquifers, but all the
schemes failed because of pervasive corruption. He, reportedly, cited
statistics and claimed, inter alia,
that 15,000 villages in the State’s 175 tehsils
(administrative units below the district level) were facing grave water crisis.
Although
it made a political statement, the Congress was, not very much off the mark.
The State has, indeed, become acutely water-scarce. Reports have been pouring
in from almost all parts, except its northern districts, about sufferings of
the people on account of drinking water shortage. Shrinking water bodies,
plummeting groundwater levels, desperate moves of several municipalities to
restrict routine supply of water are indicative of the prevailing cataclysmic
conditions in the State.
Even
the government reports speak of acute water scarcity in 41 out of the 50
districts. Besides, 38,000 hand-pumps in 55,000 villages have become
non-operational. With ponds and other reservoirs slowly drying up, one shudders
to imagine the severity of the conditions in rural MP in May and June when the
summer peaks.
Urban
areas, too, are not better off, the worst-affected being those located in Malwa
Plateau. In many of these places routine distribution has been disrupted with
water supply being restricted to once-in-three days or even worse, as in Ujjain where it is
supplied once a week. All the water sources of Ujjain, including the
once-perennial Kshipra, having dried up the city, for the present, is entirely
dependent on water-tankers, just as many other small and big towns on the
Plateau.
The
capital, Bhopal, known also as “the City of Lakes”, is in as
miserable state. The entire city now depends for water on the nearby Kolar Dam
and, very marginally, on the practically dried-up Upper Lake
– hitherto the city’s lifeline. It’s around 90 sq km-spread has shrunk by 90
per cent. Vast areas of the lake-bed now lie exposed. The municipality was
forced to cut down normal daily supplies to alternate-days from as early as mid-October
last – soon after the monsoon withdrew from the State.
The
acute scarcity of water is being blamed on inadequate rains. One, however,
suspects that mismanagement of sources of water and its distribution have been
equally, if not more, responsible. This is exemplified by Bhopal where, for want of proper governance,
public and private wastes are legendary. Although by last August it had become
clear that despite rains water was not flowing into the Upper Lake, no
conservational measures were taken and it was “business as usual”.
Worse,
it now transpires that the streams that feed the Lake were heavily silted,
elevating their beds to spread rainwater laterally over the farms in the
catchments instead of allowing it to flow into the Lake.
There are also reports of erection of check dams in the Lake’s
catchments. The free flow of rainwater to the Lake
was thus hindered, apparently, without anybody, including the State’s multiple
water-management authorities, getting wise about it. If this is what could
happen in the Capital, things must have been as bad, if not worse, elsewhere in
the State.
There,
precisely, seems to lie the nub of the problem. The government has organised
management of water through its several departments – the Public Health
Engineering, Water Resources Department, Department of Environment, etc. and
sundry autonomous bodies and agencies – and, yet, it has failed to achieve its
objective. Profusely manned at great cost by the tax-payers’ money, the
lumbering, top-heavy government, with its apathy and negligence, has failed the
people.
Things
have not come to such a sorry pass overnight. They have slid over a period of
time. When the State came into being in 1956 it was reckoned as backward,
mostly tribal State. Tribes and forests being largely inseparable, it was then
one of the most-forested areas of the country and consequently relatively
water-rich. With passage of time, however, it progressively started losing that
advantage because of unchecked rise in population, thoughtless clearing of
forests for agriculture, industrialisation, mindless unplanned urban expansion
and reckless exploitation of groundwater for agricultural, industrial and urban
use.
To
all this was added the lackadaisical way of functioning of the government that
produced a deadly brew. It is, therefore, sheer politicking to blame the
current government for the mess. It has been happening right down the last half
a century. That water was slowly becoming scarce all over the State never ever
registered with any of the governments, regardless of their colour. There has
never been any planning and management of this precious fluid.
That
the Planet has been using up fresh water faster than it can be replenished has
been generally known for quite some years. The need for its wise use, checking
wastes, its conservation, recycling and proper management has been emphasised
by international environmental and other bodies time and again. As late as in
2005, John Briscoe, a World Bank expert, had warned that India was
facing an “extremely, extremely grave situation” as “rivers dry up, groundwater
is depleted and canals are polluted”. Making matters worse, he perceptively
added, “There is widespread complacency in the government”.
To
head off the grave situation Briscoe had urged India to dramatically change the
way it managed water. Surely, suitable directives must have, accordingly, been
issued by the Centre to all the States. However, no sign of any change in the
way water was being managed in Madhya Pradesh has ever been seen. What has been
visible is a “Band-aid” approach – like the recent decision to have water
pumped up the Vindhyas from an already-depleted Narmada River
60-odd km away.
Water
scarcity in once heavily-forested Madhya Pradesh should be an example for
others indicating the consequences of lack of foresight, planning and
initiative in management of the life-sustaining fluid. What happened in China due to
mismanagement of water and its sources is also well-known. Things are going to
become more difficult with climate change-induced reduced precipitation,
droughts and degradation of cultivable lands. Ever-rising demand due to rising
population, rapid urbanisation and an exploding middle-class will throw up
greater challenges. While water throughout the country is becoming scarce, cost
of its supply to industries and households is becoming astronomical.
Clearly
the “Band-aid” approach will not work. Local water bodies will have to be
revived, conserved recharged and immaculately managed. Hopefully, State
governments will show enough gumption to tackle the acute problem that has
already made its presence felt. Better management of water and water-resources
all across the country is imperative. In fact, our survival, to a large
measure, would seem to depend on it.--INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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