Muttu Pandi and his wife have spent over seven lakhs in last three months deepening their wel
Just 30 km away from Tamil Nadu's Madurai town, 38-year-old Ramachandran can barely walk through his dying fields of maize, spread over three acres of land. Scarcity of water has left him with nothing this harvest season. His family of six is dependent on him.
"There is no water... even for drinking, someone from an NGO comes and gives us (water) once a week. Vaigai (dam) has dried up and we have not got anything from the government,", Ramachandran said, adding that his hopes are now pinned on just thirty three cents of cropped land left, provided he gets water.
Vaigai dam is left with water for just two weeks and a large part of that supply - rationed by the government currently - is reserved for the urban areas.
50-year-old Chandra, in the rural outskirts, waits for days to get water supply from the government pipeline. "Some people get water once in four days, we've got water today nearly after a month", she said, while filling her vessels. "Will the government do something?" she asked.
Muttu Pandi, 55, and his wife have spent over seven lakhs in last three months deepening their well, hoping to retrieve some water to irrigate their cotton and chilies in 4.5 acres of land. But their efforts have been a waste, with no water in sight. "If we don't get water in this well, we will have to turn to becoming labourers. We have to pay these labourers - Rs 400 for men and 250 for women every day.
Where will we get this from, if we don't find any water?" Mr Pandi said.
It's the worst drought in Tamil Nadu in the last 140 years. The government's claims that they have dug borewells and built tankers in Madurai, but on the ground the cry is still for water.