How hard is it to hear parched Maharashtra crying for help?

The image of women and children traveling on foot through miles of arid land in search of water is an image that has in the past been beamed to us from African countries. Today, one does not need to wait for images from Ethiopia or Somalia to experience these terrible inequities that exist in our world. These scenes are being beamed from different drought-hit areas of Maharashtra such as Latur, Parbhani and several other places in the Marathwada district. My friends in Mumbai who like me, enjoyed that extra shower last evening after a hard day’s work, spare a thought for the guys in Thane, which is going through a terrifying water shortage.

As with every disaster, this too has generated its crow-eating cacophony of politicized rhetoric, legal wrangling and the usual chest beating on social media. I think this is an excellent opportunity to stop being critics and getting actively involved in providing some relief to the worst affected by this drought. Bickering creates noise and noise works as an efficient camouflage for broken administration and predatory business operations. There are places where women have been traveling by local train carrying jerrycans that hold 10–20 liters of water. There are places in Latur where local hospitals have reported a 40–45% drop in outpatient traffic. Everyone is too busy buying and collecting water to spend time or money on his or her health. There are places where the state administration has imposed Section 144 to prevent riots over water from breaking out.

In the middle of this entire crisis, there is an abundance of tanker that sell water. NDTV anchor Ravish Kumar in a news program asks if hey have access to some unknown water cloud from where this seemingly endless supply of water can be downloaded for commercial enterprise. On the same show, an elderly sports journalist in trying to defend IPL calls this entire framing of the water crisis in Maharashtra, ‘emotional blackmail’.

Once again folks, this is water we’re talking about. Imagine a mother whose children are parched, sick from dehydration. Imagine having to fight with your friends and neighbors every day from your rightful share of tanker water. Imagine being so poor that you cannot buy tanker water. Imagine drinking whatever water you have access too, with all the health risks that accompany it.

This is not something that just happened out of the blue. Apparently people have crying themselves hoarse since December 2015. Apparently officials from the state administration have traveled to these parts late last year to assess the seriousness of the problem. However, the only people who seem to have access to water supply for the driest of districts and villages are the tanker operators. The farmers and villagers of drought-hit Maharashtra have been left to the mercy of water tanker operators.

This post is not a means to take pot shots at patriotic sloganeering. Nor is it meant to facilitate the laying blame at IPL’s doorstep. The time to be critical of the state government has also passed us by for now. This is an appeal to people who think they may have some solutions. Some way of providing relief before the summer peaks and more lives are lost, if you think you have logistical expertise, if you are connected to some program that can help ferry and distribute water, if you have ways to seeking out state administration’s cooperation in being able to deliver relief, if you know brands, corporations or individuals who would like to fund this initiative; make this a home page where we can all bring our respective ideas, skills, expertise and connections to find an answer, offer some relief. It’s the least we can do.

See you in the comments section.