India’s deadly drought: villagers in Mokhada battle sleepless nights, snakes in search of water

The western region of Mokhada has a normal rainfall of 2,400mm a year, but its water supply is diverted to other cities and industrial corridors, leaving villagers and farms constantly parched

A severe drought that’s gripped India has worsened the woes of Mokhada’s villagers, whose desperate search for water is driving them deep into the forests, where snakes and scorpions lurk

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The Vaitarna River, one of the five rivers in Mokhada. Photo: Kunal Purohit

Published: 7:15pm, 1 Jul 2019Updated: 2:07pm, 5 Jul 2019

In a town in western India, every conversation involves a possible solution to the crisis.

Standing in his brown, dusty field, Narayan Mahale looks at the Wagh river that runs under the cliff on which his field lies, and is convinced the solution is a piped supply of water. Less than 5km away, Ramchandra Mahale believes a dam will suffice. His neighbour, Anita Gaikwad, says the key is to find better ways to harvest rainwater.

The villagers in Mokhada, in the Palghar district of India’s western state of Maharashtra, can’t help themselves.

Farmer Narayan Mahale can see the river, now drying, flowing past through the year. But that water often does not reach him. Photo: Kunal Purohit

This region is facing a crushing water scarcity. Dominated mostly by tribal hamlets, Mokhada is underdeveloped – it has a literacy rate that is two-thirds lower than the national rate of 74 per cent; it sees hundreds of children dying each year due to poor nourishment and health care facilities.

Very few villages have any piped supply of water. As a result, many of them have to depend on common wells. But last year’s scarce rainfall meant that many village wells ran dry by January this year.

It isn’t just Palghar alone; 43 per cent of India is gripped by a severe drought, being abnormally to exceptionally dry.