The drought in Maharashtra is worsening by passing days. Everyone is concerned over the depleting water stock in catchment areas especially in drought-affected areas in Marathwada, Maharashtra. The villagers of Mukundwadi, Aurangabad are hit by the draught and they’re struggling walking an extra mile to fetch water.
The adults are only not the ones walking a few extra miles to fetch some water but the little soul’s of the family has also taken the initiative to fight with the drought situation grim.
Recently a piece of news surfaced on social media making everyone worry and think about the water shortage. A 10-year-old boy named Siddharth Dhage has taken the responsibility of bringing two cans of water on his little shoulders after travelling 14kms on the Aurangabad- Hyderabad. Well, Siddharth isn’t alone other kids Ayesha 12-year-old and her younger sister Sakshi 9-year-old from the same locality travels by train every day for the same reason.
Siddharth is a student of class 2 and his daily trek to get water is complicated. Siddharth leaves from his house at noon and walks till the Mukundwadi railway station. He hops into a train till Aurangabad city junction to draw water from the taps of the railway station. The little boy gets back home at 5.30 in the evening after 6 long hours.
The distance is seven kilometres one way which makes it 14 kilometres two-way. The train is not always on time which makes the water trek lengthier. Siddharth and his friends Ayesha and Sakshi wait under a tree in the station till the train comes. As soon as the train arrives they only get a fraction of minutes to hop on the train with their water cans. Which general creates chaos as many villagers boards the train to draw water.
Siddharth and his friends sit on the floor of the train. They only get 40 minutes to fill up their cans. However, returning home in a train with the heavy cans filled with water on his little shoulders without spilling water is a tough work to do for the little soul. At the age of playing with his friends, he has taken the responsibility to bring water home cause his parents are busy working to earn money for the family.
The housing unit of Nirmala Devi Nagar which has 300 homes but doesn’t have any water supply where mostly everyone is a daily wager. This tells us the critical condition of water drought which hit the Marathwada region.
Source – Times of India