Pawan Kumar Maurya, TwoCircles.net
Chandauli (Uttar Pradesh): Tribal villagers in the isolated hills of Kelhadiya, located about 130 km from Varanasi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency) and 80 km from the Chandauli district headquarters, grapple with a constant battle against thirst, whether it is the blistering summer heat or the freezing winter chill.
Nestled in the Nagdah tehsil between the Vindhya Mountain ranges and evergreen dense forests, the village, with a population of 130-135, lacks basic amenities like electricity, roads, schools, anganwadis, hospitals, security and most crucially, clean drinking water. Generations have passed in search of potable water.
Although millions have been spent on water projects, alleged corruption has led to no results. The villagers here continue to face an acute water crisis. By December, water from chuaad (a source of water seeping from mountain stones) will stop. As a result, the villagers will have to venture into the jungle to collect water amidst the threat of wild animals like bears and jackals.
“We have been forced to drink water from chuaad for generations. We will get water till December, but after that, we will have to search for it in the forests. For the last 20-25 years, during elections, candidates and their supporters promise roads, hospitals, tube wells, anganwadis and handpumps. But once they win, they never bother to check on how the villagers are living. We have applied for a solution to the water crisis, but nothing has changed. We are living as if we are already dead. With the water shortage, we cannot even grow crops properly. This time, even our rice crop has been destroyed due to the lack of water,” shares Bhola Kol – a resident of the village.
As the country is celebrating Amrit Mahotsav (75 years of independence), women, children and youth in the village are forced to walk one kilometer daily to collect water from the chuaad. The water here is neither clean nor suitable for drinking, yet it is the only available option. Every day, women, children and the elderly spend two to three hours fetching water. Each person must make at least 8-10 trips to chuaad per day.
Sixty-year-old Naurangi Devi, who suffers from knee and back pain due to the daily task of fetching water, says, “I have to walk to Chuaad 8-10 times a day to collect water. It takes me more than two hours daily just to fetch water. After Holi, the situation becomes even worse, and water is supplied through tankers, but it never satisfies the entire village.”
The steep and rocky path to chuaad poses health challenges for women, children and the elderly who have to carry water for the family. Climbing back with water-filled buckets causes breathlessness, back pain, knee pain, dizziness and frequent injuries from tripping on the rough terrain. This impacts their ability to perform other daily tasks.
Preeti, the most educated woman in the village, has completed her 12th grade and suggests a solution to the village’s water problems. “There is a well in the village, but the water is too contaminated to drink. This is a hilly region, and efforts to install handpumps after boring 350-400 feet deep have failed. The water comes for a couple of months, then stops. If we drill up to 900-1000 feet, we might get water for a year. We demand that the government drill deep bores here. Once water is available, half our problems will be solved, and half the population will be freed from the daily struggle of fetching water,” she suggests.
Virendra Kharwar, a teacher from Pandi village, cycles through rocky, forested paths to reach Kelhadiya every day. He teaches 25 children in the village, including 11 girls and 14 boys. He believes no other village in the five neighboring states faces the kind of hardships and neglect that Kelhadiya does. The water shortage is severely affecting the future of the new generation.
“Most villages in Naudgh Tehsil, including Kelhadiya, struggle to access clean water. Yet, the claims of India’s rapid development and progress are far from the reality in villages like Kelhadiya, where citizens still do not have clean drinking water. The government’s policies are failing these villagers, who live in complete deprivation,” he points out.
The villagers of Kelhadiya are mostly cattle herders, farmers and laborers. When the nearby water sources dry up, they face a shortage of water for their cattle and crops. “This area has been facing drought for several years. The villagers’ day starts and ends with filling water from chuaad. During the monsoon, the contaminated water from the chuaad causes vomiting, diarrhea, fever, typhoid, stomach aches, indigestion and gastric problems. This also affects the education of children,” he complains.
According to the 2011 census, Chandauli’s population stands at 1,952,756, with 1,017,905 men and 934,851 women. The district’s urban population is just 12.42%. The Scheduled Caste population is 22.88%, and the Scheduled Tribes population stands at 2.14%.
In the forests of Chandauli and Sonbhadra, eight tribal communities reside, including the Kol, Kharwar, Bhuiya, Gond, Oraon, Pannika, Dharkar, Ghasia and Baiga tribes. In 1996, Chandauli became a separate district after splitting from Varanasi, and several of these tribes were added to the Scheduled Caste list.
Lal Sahab Kharwar, the village head of Kelhadiya, says, “Even before I became the pradhan of the village, I had been pleading with the authorities for water resources. The people of Kelhadiya, Pandi and Aurwatar are still facing severe problems for access to drinking water. There seems to be no solution in sight. The new generation is also suffering, and their future is slipping away.”
In June 2020, the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state launched the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme, promising to deliver drinking water to every household in Naudgh by June 2022. Later, the deadline was extended to 2024, and a Rs 250 crore project was approved to bring water from the Bhaisoada Dam to the village through a 600 km pipeline. However, despite the passing of the deadlines, Kelhadiya has not seen any implementation of the scheme.
Acknowledging the water crisis, Naudgh Sub-Divisional Magistrate Kundan Raj Kapoor says, “Efforts are being made by the government. The issue was raised in a meeting with the chief development officer of Chandauli. We are planning to lay the pipeline within a month or two to start water supply. In the meantime, we are making arrangements for tanker water supply.”
Despite the government’s claims of governance and development, the severe water shortage in Kelhadiya remains a glaring failure of the authorities. The question arises: when will the villagers of Kelhadiya receive basic amenities like schools, roads, healthcare and clean drinking water? While the government promotes slogans of good governance, where is the reality? Who will take responsibility for bringing these tribal villagers into the mainstream and addressing their fundamental needs?