Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is facing acute water shortage. Most of the water bodies in 84 blocks out of 313 in the state have virtually dried up. The situation has come to such a pass that a woman and a youth fought over collecting water in Bhopal city, capital of Madhya Pradesh on Friday. A video clipping of the incident went viral on social media. The woman tore the clothes of the youth, and the issue was settled when some people pacified both of them.
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In another incident, a 35-year-old widow immolated herself after a fight over water with a neighbour on Wednesday morning in Khirkia tehsil of drought-hit Harda district, nearly 176 kms from Bhopal. The woman later succumbed to burns at the district hospital.
Local sources said that the woman Shyama Mali had a fight with her neighbour over drawing water from the community tap. According to her brother, Parvat Singh, earlier also neighbours had fought with her sister over drawing water. He said that as she was not allowed to draw water first, she had to return empty-handed on many occasions.
On Wednesday morning, after they again fought with her, she poured kerosene on herself and set herself afire. She was taken to the Khirkia hospital from where she was referred to the Harda district hospital, where she died.
Every year when summer begins the state reels under severe water shortage and skirmishes are reported from the points where the people gather to collect water. In April this year, two women fought over collecting water in Panna district of the state. They attacked each other with the pitchers they brought to collect water. The incident took place in Malaghan village under Shahnagar police station area of Panna district.
Many people can be seen carrying water at night. As the state had deficient rainfall last year, the water sources have dried up in places like Dewas, where water has become a subject of legal and administrative disputes. Dewas is facing the worst-ever water shortage as private bore-wells that compensated for the lack of a proper water supply network have dried up.
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A few years ago, 50-year-old man was killed and several people were injured in a clash over collecting water for irrigation among the residents of two villages in Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh.
Villagers from Bajdega and Dhad, under Bahrol police station limits, 30 kilometres from the district headquarters, were involved in the clash. There was a dispute over water released from a canal for irrigation and the two groups clashed with sticks and stones, leaving Khilan Yadav of Dhad, dead. A dozen people were injured in the incident.
