Pre-monsoon showers have filled up the nullahs in drought-hit Beed in Maharashtra's Marathwada region.
In stark contrast to what they were just a week ago, partially-filled nullahs and replenished wells can be seen across Kalegaon village in Maharahstra's drought-hit Beed district.
Just two days of pre-monsoon showers have filled up the nullahs dug up as part of the water conservation projects under Maharashtra Government's Jalyukt Shivar scheme. The water crisis in Kalegaon has been resolved - at least for now.
"We used to walk 2 to 3 km for water. Now the wells are full because of the nullah next to it. We use this water for our daily needs," said Parvati Madhke, a resident of Kalegaon.
Villagers and farmers have received a new lease of life because of the nullahs that were deepened and broadened in the village, check dams that were built to save rain water as part of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' pet scheme, are now benefitting those growing crops around the projects.
"My farm is next to the nullah and I don't need water tankers anymore," said farmer Chandrashekhar Ahir. "But those who are sowing their crops far from the project have not started seeing an impact yet," added another farmer, who is still counting on the monsoon to revive his cotton crops.
But for the administration, the real test of the quality of their work will begin only once the monsoon reaches Maharashtra.
"We have done deep CCD (Continuous Control Drains) work on 50,000 areas and created 30,000 compartment bindings. 600 mm rains for three days is sufficient to fill these structures but the question is can we hold these rains? I am confident about our work" said Beed district collector Naval Kishore Ram.