A few good men come to rescue of parched village

Dindori: Around 20km from Nashik, this village in Dindori is facing acute water shortage. The situation is so bad that villagers, young and old alike, spend at least three hours every day carrying water filled ‘handas' over their heads from the only well in Talegaon to their homes and repeat the exercise five times.
Coming to the rescue of the villagers are a few men from Talegaon, who have bought a tanker from their own funds to provide water at rational charges.The self help group, Prajasatta Swayamsahayta Bachat Gat, formed by 14 farmers in 2008, decided to start a tanker service of its own that charges the villagers rationally to help them tide over the drought-like situation.
Talegaon acquires its name from the ‘gosavis' (sadhus) ‘sthali' (stay) who used to come to Nashik for the Kumbh Mela. The village with a population of 2,761 earns revenue from several companies in the vicinity.
Part of the Dindori taluka, Talegaon draws water through the water supply scheme in the neighbouring tank Ranatale, about 5km away. But the source of water has gone dry for the first time in eight years.
"Generally, the village faces acute water shortage only in for a few days in May. But this year, the scarcity situation has advanced by two months," said Neeta Gosavi, a resident of the village, who has to carry three handas over her head for about 250m across the Nashik – Dindori main road.
Sarpanch Umakant Charoskar of the village said the gram panchayat did all it could.
"We bought two gunthe plot near the canal feeding water through the Waghad project and constructed a well. The water in the well would then be transported to the source of water. This year, since there is no rotation of Waghad project, hence no water for us," the sarpanch said.
Gram sevak Sandipan Netke pointed out that the Jalyukta Shivar scheme in parts of village ensured water for the wells till mid-February instead of December. "But had we got a good monsoon, troubles of half of the village would have been resolved," he said, adding that he had presented the demand for a tanker for the village with the collectorate as well as private companies.
While the villagers have now resorted to hiring services of private water tankers, the self help group has started its own tanker service in the backdrop of the drought.
"We are earning the bare minimum from the tanker service that we provide to the villagers. After buying the tanker, we are planning to buy a tractor — both of which cam be loaned to the people when needed," Rajabhau Gosavi said. The tanker makes four rounds of the village dispensing 6,000 litre water daily at the rate of Rs 40 per 200 litres instead of Rs 60 charged commercially. The weaker sections and senior citizens are delivered water free of cost. This has cut down the trips made by private tankers in the village.
Traditionally, until the well is filled with water from the pipeline connected to the source, the villagers are told to wait 10ft from it. At a time, there are more than 80 people fetching water from the well and five members of a family are required to fetch water, fill it in utensils, carry the pots home and bring them back to get more water. The process takes place for three days a week in the evening and dawn depending on the availability of power.