Morle in Sattari goes without water for one year

Team Herald

VALPOI: The Morle village in Sattari has been facing water shortage since last one year. The village people are getting drinking water just once in a week. And the remaining days of week, people fetch water from a neighbouring village. 

The ground water level has depleted in the village forcing the locals dig their wells deeper; however, the wells in the village have dried up this summer.

Mahadev Gawas, a villager, says, “Since last one year we are facing water shortage. We get water twice a day – 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. Our MLA Pratapsing Rane told us that we will get 24 hours water, but we are not getting water even for an hour on any given day.”

“We are getting drinking water just once in a week. And last month even that too stopped forcing us to fetch water from our neighbouring village for our domestic use. We had given an application to water supply department to change the water pipeline, but they have not acted on our application,” lamented Pradeep Gawas, another villager.

Mahadev Morlekar said, “I am an agriculturist since 1986 and am cultivating rice, cashew nuts, sugar cane etc. I am supplied water by the Water Resources Department through canals which were built 1982 and the same are in a dilapidated condition, as such, water does not reach my fields.”

Rajesh Gaonkar, another farmer, said that he is growing banana, cashew, papaya and coconut and that he has not been getting water regularly.

“We need water at least four times in a month for our crops. But the Water Resources Department supplies water only once in a month,” complained Sunil Thakur, a farmer.

However, the junior engineer of Water Resources Department has a different story to tell. “We are supplying water to the Water Resources Society on time, but they are not, in turn, supplying water to the farmers,” he said.

When asked why his department has not been supplying water to Morle village daily, PWD Assistant Engineer Eknath Paste said, “We are supplying drinking water to Morle village regularly. Nobody complained to us that the Morle villagers have not been getting drinking water on time.”