Click to play videoGwalior,MP: In Madhya Pradesh an acute drinking water crisis coupled with the rising temperature is forcing people to resort to desperate measures, four murders have been reported from various parts of the state in the past one month in clashes that resulted from dispute over filling water.
The week preceding May 16 — the families of Maniram, a police constable and Premnarayan, who worked in the postal department — were good neighbors in the Devnagar locality of Gwalior, but it all ended when the tanker which supplies water once a week rolled in on May 16.
The two families fought over on who would fill the water first and the fight reached such a stage that Maniram's three sons attacked Premnarayan with swords and iron rods.
Premnarayan died in the district hospital the same day he was attacked.
Premnarayan's son Anup says "They killed my father and attacked me and my mother. The dispute was over filling water, they asked for Rs 500 and said only then would they allow us to fill water."
In neighboring Bhind district, the family of Jai Kishan of Goram village was shattered on May 18 as villagers shot dead his two sons.
The dispute again was over who will be the first to fill water. All the 10 accused have been arrested. Water wars is getting worse in many parts of Madhya Pradesh due to depleting ground water level and total dependency on water supplied through tankers once a week.
"Ten people killed my sons. It was our turn to fill water but they did not allow, when they insisted one of them got a gun and shot them dead," says Jai Kaishan.
In village Mudkhera of Sagar district, 45-year-old Bhallu Rajak refused to share well water with Vitthal Thakur on April 29, as a result an enraged Thakur hacked Rajak on the spot.
As water crisis is driving people to desperation, mass awareness programme aimed at imparting water management training have been launched across the state by the government but to little or no avail.
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