Unique way to solve Rajasthan's water woes

Alwar: It's a scorching summer in Rajasthan with wells and ponds running dry and the state is in the grip of a severe water crisis. More than 25 districts out of 32 are being supplied water through tankers and trains. But for a group of rural women in Alwar, an unique song asking their MP to give them water worked wonders. The women went to their newly elected MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh 's Phool Baagh palace and sang "give us water if you want us to vote for you again, I have left all my tasks unattended, my buffalo unfed, to come to you to ask for water," and the MP immediately sanctioned them a tubewell from his MPLAD funds.

Alwar is one of the worst affected districts in Rajasthan with ground water levels that are depleting faster than other districts in Rajasthan.

"Give us a well Bhanwar, if you want us to vote for you again," the women were heard singing.

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Singing and dancing their way to meet their MP, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, these women from a village in Alwar carried no applications with them. They simply spoke a language they knew best.

"First he took our votes but now he is not arranging water for us, we are demanding water in the only way that we know how to," one of the women said.

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Falling ground water levels has meant that all the wells in their village have run dry. Some of these women have to walk 5 kilometres a day to fill water but their song struck a chord with their newly elected MP Bhanwar Jitendra Singh.

"One fine morning they arrived at 7 o'clock outside my window , and I found them singing a song so I jumped out of bed. We have sanctioned a tubewell and from the MPLAD fund we have sanctioned pipelines for them so they get adequate drinking water," said MP Bhanwar Jitender Singh.

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Thrilled at getting a tubewell sanctioned for their village, the women thanked Jitendra Singh in a song of course.

"Bhanwar, we decorate you with garlands, you are like God to us," they sang.