Lack of planning to conserve water, apathy by the government towards people and rampant black-marketing of water is what plagues Jalna, one of the worst drought-affected districts in Maharashtra since 1972.
"The politicians, municipality and the government administration never paid attention to solve the water woes of the people. Jalna city has a pipeline system in existence since the times of Nizam rule," NCP corporator and Jalna youth wing president Mirza Anwar Baig said.
Formerly a part of Nizam state as a tehsil of Aurangabad district, Jalna district was formed on May 1, 1982.
The boundaries of Jalna district are adjacent to Parbhani and Buldhana on east, Aurangabad on west, Jalgaon on north and Beed on south. It is the premier commercial centre of the Marathwada region.
Incidentally, Cong-NCP came to power in Jalna municipality about a year back, till when it was ruled by the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.
Three major lakes (Ghanewadi, Moti and Mukteshwar), which were sufficient to provide water to the city have dried up, Baig said.
"Till last year there was water in Ghanewadi lake, spread in the area of over 600 acres. Now, it has dried up. Neither the municipality nor the government cleaned the lake," he alleged.
During the Nizam rule, water use to be transported to Hyderabad from the Ghanewadi lake, but due to deficient rainfall and apathy of the local administration it has dried up, he added.
Meanwhile, Jalna District Collector Shyam Deshpande said that the government will undertake the cleaning work of the Ghanewadi lake on March 11-12 and would see to it that to some extent water woes are resolved.
A central team would come to Jalna later this week to assess the drought situation and take steps accordingly, Deshpande said.
