Click to play videoBhopal: Many places in the state are facing acute water scarcity. Water has become so scarce, that people hire armed guards to prevent theft, and in some places, they use a lottery system to fill buckets.
Narendra Khare, a resident of Niwari, has won the village lottery. His prize is not money but water.
He says, “I'm happy it is my turn to fill the water first today, my family will now have a weeks supply of water. We often have to go without water. We get just two buckets and have to sit for hours together."
Here in Niwari village, in Madhya Pradesh, it's not just the temperature that is rising but also the anxiety over water supply.
To avoid the usual fight over who gets to fill first, the 22 families in this area have decided to pick lots - the lottery dictates their fate.
If a water war has been averted in Niwari, armed guards have been called in the Shivpuri-Gwalior region, to stand sentry over the 65-km canal, which provides Gwalior city its drinking water.
The canal, which is connected to the Kakoti and Tigra dams is vulnerable to what the government calls water bandits.
Irrigation department Superintending Engineer S S Ahirwayu says, “Theft has to be stopped so armed guards have been deployed. Private guards have also been deployed.”
But guards and lottery tickets can do little to change the fate of 200 people in Bandha village. The nearest well is 5 km away.
The villagers claim the region's water shortage has dried up their chances of finding suitable brides as nobody wants to get their daughters married off to this area.
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