Water woes: Parched state at boiling point

JAIPUR: The "parched" state has reached a boiling point. A day after the talks between agitating farmers led by BJP leader Devi Singh Bhati and irrigation minister Mahipal Maderna failed, the protesting leader has upped the ante saying that the farmers are going to go the guerrilla way and raid places where illegal siphoning of water is being done.
"This is nothing but absolute failure on the part of administration; they are not willing to solve the problems of the people here.The minister did announce certain measures like appointing an administrative officer to ensure even distribution, but that is nothing but mere eyewash," Bhati told TOI. "Earlier too, they did a similar exercise by setting up patrolling parties, which vanished in a matter of days," he added.
With the talks failing, Bhati and his supporters are looking at going the guerrilla way and raiding the canal where illegal siphoning is done and bringing forth the culprits to the administration and give them a jolt. Earlier on October 24, Bhati had told TOI that he'll be looking at alternative ways to and do something that reaches the deaf ears of the administration.
"What can we do when they are not listening; we'll do our work silently and bring forward the culprits. The supply to those fields can be cut for a year if one is caught siphoning water illegally. If they can't stop them we will," he said. The agitating farmers also plan to cut off supplies to Jodhpur, which they say gets extra supplies as the minister comes from the region.
These protests also take a political turn as the all parties are looking to corner the ruling party which doesn't have a political standing in the region after facing defeat both in assembly and Lok Shabha elections. "They are neglecting Bikaner as they don't have any standing here, but this is going to further hurt them," says Bhati.
Till date BJP rebels Kirorilal Meena and Govind Meghwal have held mahapanchayats taking on the government, this was followed by Bhati's agitation in front of the district collectors' office and on the 31 October CPM is hosting a day's protest aiming to bring the administration ton a standstill in Anoopgarh.
The agitating groups say that the agreement between the government and farmers in Jaiselmer was a staged drama and people of the region won't give up till they are ensured of six rounds of water supply for irrigation.
"The government is a total failure when it comes to addressing the needs of the people of this region. They have enough water to give us but are not doing it," says CPM leader Hetram Beniwal who'll be spearheading the agitation which aims at blocking all the entry points, government offices and public places in Anoopgarh. "This is an indicative protest, but if the government doesn't take corrective steps we'll go on an indefinite protest," Beniwal says.
With the local opposition up in arms, the Congress here all this looks like an effort to ensure that the party fails to open its account in the region in the municipal as well as panchayat elections.
"For us this is the last chance for her to make our heads count, the opposition is ensuring that they build up the tempo against us. It's up to our state leadership to ensure that we manage to save our face this time around," concludes a local Congress leader.