Keeping up with UP: Water and its disappearing act
Water vendors and govt run "pyaus" have disappeared from cities, and handpumps in rural areas have dried up. Buy your water if you can.
In the summer of 2009, I had visited Sonbhadra where I witnessed the suffering of the people facing acute water scarcity. They would dig up trenches, sometimes as deep as three to four feet in search of water and consume it though it used to be muddy.
Almost 15 years have passed since my visit to the country’s power hub which lights half of the state while people in the vicinity live in darkness. Nothing has changed since then: People in over 200 villages depend on tanker water for their daily needs even now.
They saw a ray of hope in November 2020 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the “Har Ghar Jal Yojana”, a rural drinking water project in Sonbhadra and Mirzapur. To date, 2995 rural households are waiting to get tap water at home, a relief from the everyday ordeal of walking kilometres in search of water or waiting for the tanker.
Jagat, a water warrior who had taken me to various villages in 2009, is also among those who are hoping to get some succour in a year's time. But they are worried.
The pipelines have been laid but officials are now concerned about the water supply from the Son River around the year. As of now, the river has been dry since April as it waits for the rains to get its fill.
Officials have now approached IIT-BHU for a solution as the water level in the river goes down between March and June every year. The Rihand dam water is not potable because of a high level of mercury.
The Lok Sabha elections were held in these challenging conditions. The polling here was held in the last phase on June 1.
Though the Election Commission of India had released an advisory listing the do's and don'ts and while the government officials claim enough arrangements were made to protect people from the scorching heat, the fact remains the weather conditions were unbearable in areas like Sonbhadra where no amount of shade or cooler could have sufficed.
Usually, polling teams report at their assigned polling stations a day before the voting and spend their night in the polling booth which, in the rural areas, may or may not have electricity. As there is no food, toilet and accommodation provided for the night, the villagers come to their help.
Officially, 11 personnel — six home guards and five polling personnel — died in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra due to the heatwave, while another 16 were admitted to government hospitals. The temperature had risen to an unbearable 47 degree Celsius, a day before the last phase of polling.
Family members, who asked not to be named, now ask: “The elections completed, the government formed, who will compensate our loss? Was it not possible to hold elections from Eastern UP to Western UP, keeping in mind the area's topography? The West is comparatively prosperous, green with low heat stress hours.”
According to a report published in Hindustan Times, 55 out of 57 parliamentary constituencies in the sixth phase observed heat stress hours during the polling window.
“According to Pune-based Respirer Living Sciences (RLS), during the 12-hour polling period from 7 am to 7 pm during election Phase 6, heat stress soared across the country, particularly in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. These states recorded some of the highest heat stress hours, significantly above the danger threshold of the heat index (HI) exceeding 41 degrees Celsius, as defined by the India Meteorological Department (IMD),” the report said.
The moot question remains: Who’s responsible for these unnatural deaths? Second, can’t the Election Commission decide a better season for holding elections or get a topographical map of every district to make arrangements and decide dates? And when efforts are being made to make voting an enjoyable affair, why can't money be spent on making better arrangements for the polling personnel?
The issue is much bigger than the month-long elections in the country. What about a normal summer day in the area? One does not find good old water vendors or the good old "pyaus" (drinking water points). Some individuals, as a social service, still run "pyaus", but the ones run by the government have disappeared in the city.
In rural areas, one has to hunt for hand pumps or buy bottled water without being sure about the purity. So, is the answer -- buy your water? How many can afford the water bottle and how many bottles can one afford?
In a welfare state, shouldn’t one have access to free or cheap water?
Sunita Aron is a consulting editor with the HT based in Lucknow. You can find her on X as @overto. The views expressed are personal.
In the summer of 2009, I had visited Sonbhadra where I witnessed the suffering of the people facing acute water scarcity. They would dig up trenches, sometimes as deep as three to four feet in search of water and consume it though it used to be muddy.
Almost 15 years have passed since my visit to the country’s power hub which lights half of the state while people in the vicinity live in darkness. Nothing has changed since then: People in over 200 villages depend on tanker water for their daily needs even now.
They saw a ray of hope in November 2020 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the “Har Ghar Jal Yojana”, a rural drinking water project in Sonbhadra and Mirzapur. To date, 2995 rural households are waiting to get tap water at home, a relief from the everyday ordeal of walking kilometres in search of water or waiting for the tanker.
Jagat, a water warrior who had taken me to various villages in 2009, is also among those who are hoping to get some succour in a year's time. But they are worried.
The pipelines have been laid but officials are now concerned about the water supply from the Son River around the year. As of now, the river has been dry since April as it waits for the rains to get its fill.
Officials have now approached IIT-BHU for a solution as the water level in the river goes down between March and June every year. The Rihand dam water is not potable because of a high level of mercury.
The Lok Sabha elections were held in these challenging conditions. The polling here was held in the last phase on June 1.
Though the Election Commission of India had released an advisory listing the do's and don'ts and while the government officials claim enough arrangements were made to protect people from the scorching heat, the fact remains the weather conditions were unbearable in areas like Sonbhadra where no amount of shade or cooler could have sufficed.
Usually, polling teams report at their assigned polling stations a day before the voting and spend their night in the polling booth which, in the rural areas, may or may not have electricity. As there is no food, toilet and accommodation provided for the night, the villagers come to their help.
Officially, 11 personnel — six home guards and five polling personnel — died in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra due to the heatwave, while another 16 were admitted to government hospitals. The temperature had risen to an unbearable 47 degree Celsius, a day before the last phase of polling.
Family members, who asked not to be named, now ask: “The elections completed, the government formed, who will compensate our loss? Was it not possible to hold elections from Eastern UP to Western UP, keeping in mind the area's topography? The West is comparatively prosperous, green with low heat stress hours.”
According to a report published in Hindustan Times, 55 out of 57 parliamentary constituencies in the sixth phase observed heat stress hours during the polling window.
“According to Pune-based Respirer Living Sciences (RLS), during the 12-hour polling period from 7 am to 7 pm during election Phase 6, heat stress soared across the country, particularly in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. These states recorded some of the highest heat stress hours, significantly above the danger threshold of the heat index (HI) exceeding 41 degrees Celsius, as defined by the India Meteorological Department (IMD),” the report said.
The moot question remains: Who’s responsible for these unnatural deaths? Second, can’t the Election Commission decide a better season for holding elections or get a topographical map of every district to make arrangements and decide dates? And when efforts are being made to make voting an enjoyable affair, why can't money be spent on making better arrangements for the polling personnel?
The issue is much bigger than the month-long elections in the country. What about a normal summer day in the area? One does not find good old water vendors or the good old "pyaus" (drinking water points). Some individuals, as a social service, still run "pyaus", but the ones run by the government have disappeared in the city.
In rural areas, one has to hunt for hand pumps or buy bottled water without being sure about the purity. So, is the answer -- buy your water? How many can afford the water bottle and how many bottles can one afford?
In a welfare state, shouldn’t one have access to free or cheap water?
Sunita Aron is a consulting editor with the HT based in Lucknow. You can find her on X as @overto. The views expressed are personal.