Most of the reservoirs and dams have dried up in Marathwada region
This 45-year-old farmer in Maharashtra ended his life just a day before the state cabinet toured the drought-hit Marathwada to assess the ground-level situation in the region. The situation is so grim that the dams in the region are left with just six per cent of water.
Sanjay Jadhav in Latur's Ujni village had taken an agricultural loan of Rs 3 lakh that added to his debt of one lakh which he had borrowed for his father's cancer treatment. He committed suicide by consuming poison as he had no money left to repay his debt after successive droughts in the rain-shadow region of Marathwada.
This 45-year-old farmer in Maharashtra ended his life just a day before the state cabinet toured the drought-hit Marathwada
Sanjay Jadhav's brother-in-law, Annasaheb Patil told NDTV: "We feed the entire nation and we ourselves are starving. The entire nation eats what we grow and here we die. No actually we don't kill ourselves, the government is killing us."
The drought in the region is so acute that just 6 per cent of water remains in Marathwada dams. The situation could worsen as summer approaches.
The NDTV team visited the dams and reservoirs in the region and found that most of them have dried up. There's almost no water left in Manjra Dam that supplies water to the worst affected districts of Beed, Osmanabad and Latur.
"This (Dam) is usually full but for the last two years its level had gone down till near the base of the dam. Now there is nothing," said Prakash Tele, a farmer in the area.
Cabinet Minister Pankaja Munde told NDTV, "It's not that officials are not working but with visit of ministers everyone will be on their toes. The government has made plans till July. I hope the rain supports us. The Jal Yukt Shivar scheme will also help us. This is happening due to lack of work done by earlier governments."
The Maharashtra ministers took stock of the severe water shortage plaguing the three districts and submitted a report to the chief minister on Friday evening.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said: "We are looking at both long term and short term solutions and wherever we have announced will help farmers tide over the immediate crisis and ensure that help reaches each and every affected farmer."