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Now, 11-year-old boy dies fetching water from well in drought-hit Beed
The water scarcity in Marathwada has compelled each member of a family, especially children, to make multiple trips to water tanks and hand pumps in sweltering heat
In a second drought fatality within two days, an 11-year-old boy died while fetching water from a well in drought-hit Beed district of Marathwada on Thursday.
Read more: Maharashtra drought: Child who went to fetch water dies of heat stroke
Sachin Gopinath Kedar of Veeda village in Kej teshil was fetching water from a well, half-a-kilometre from his home, when he slipped and fell to his death, a police official said.
On Tuesday, a 12-year-old girl died because of heat stroke in Beed district, while fetching water from an almost dry hand pump.
Yogita Ashok Desai, a resident of Sabalkhed village in Beed, was dehydrated after she made five attempts to fill water from a hand pump, when the day’s temperature was 44 degrees Celsius.
The water scarcity in Marathwada has compelled each member of a family, especially children, to make multiple trips to water tanks and hand pumps in sweltering heat.
Umakant Dangat, Aurangabad divisional commissioner said only three per cent water is left in the dams in the parched Marathwada region.
Eight of the region’s 11 major dams are at dead storage level implying water from these dams cannot flow out but has to be lifted.
This is a drastic decline in water storage as at this time last year, the level in Marathwada’s dams was much higher at 11%, Dangat said.
As many as 2,745 water tankers are being used in the region compared to 939 this time last year. The Aurangabad collector has already announced a 20% water cut on local breweries and a 10% overall cut in local industries.
