The Congress Tuesday accused the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra of “creating” a water crisis in Marathwada, and said the region’s water woes remain an example of its inadequate planning and failure to provide sustainable solutions.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also questioned the delayed implementation of the Marathwada Water Grid Project, launched back in 2019.

However, one of the state’s worst water-affected constituencies happens to be Baramati in Western Maharashtra, often cited as a model of development being the turf of the Pawar family. Similarly, most of the constituencies where shortage of water remains an issue have been represented by top leaders for years.

Baramati, located in the sugarcane belt, has been represented in the Assembly by NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for seven consecutive terms. In the rural parts of the constituency, at least 22 villages fall in the official dry zone.

With farming a loss-making venture and no industrial unit, migration is the only way out for youths. Villagers say those left behind struggle to find brides.

”A few days after the marriage of one of my relatives was fixed, the bride’s family decided to call it off. They said the bride refused to get married into a village where people struggle for drinking water,” says Sangeeta Jedhe, who belongs to a farmer family in Ambi Budruk village.

In 2000, a water scheme was started, but it continues to limp nearly 25 years later. Meanwhile, the cost has gone up from Rs 51 crore to an estimated Rs 450 crore.

NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar, who is contesting against uncle Ajit Pawar in the Baramati seat, has promised to make the 22 villages in the dry zone his top priority. “We will ensure that the water project is completed. We will also look for new sources of water,” he says.

The situation is equally bad in Shirdi and other constituencies of Ahilyanagar (earlier called Ahmednagar), where the Vikhe-Patil family has been dominant for over 50 years.

Incumbent MLA Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the BJP has been elected seven consecutive times from the Shirdi seat, including a bypoll, and has represented the Congress and Shiv Sena too in the past. Yet, in its villages, people have to buy water at the rate of Rs 15 a jar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Nilwande canal distribution network in March this year, with officials promising that 180 villages in six talukas of the district would benefit from the canal. However, villagers are still waiting for the water.

Dattatreya Ghorphade, 73, a farmer from Kelvad village in Shirdi, says he owns six acres and grows jowar, maize and soyabean. “This year I invested Rs 50,000 and my profit was zero because there was no water. We thought we would get water from the Nilwande canal, but they are still busy carrying out tests.”

Sunil Fatangade, a vegetable vendor from Kelwad, says he spends Rs 500 a month just on water for drinking.

While the story is the same in neighbouring villages, even city areas are struggling. Gaurav N, a shopkeeper in Rahata city, says, “We get water for an hour every five days.” However, he adds that he doesn’t see an option but to vote for the BJP.

Vikhe-Patil claims the situation is “far better than any other constituency in the district… except for a few villages”. “Even infrastructure-wise, Shirdi is far ahead of other constituencies,” he says, adding that while in Shirdi, “not a single tanker is deployed supplying water”, in neighbouring Sangamner, “72 tankers are being pressed into service”.

The BJP leader also says that two rotations of water distribution have already taken place through the Nilwande canal network. “The first was carried out to do the testing and the second one provided water through the canal network for irrigation.”

Vikhe-Patil talks of other water schemes in the works. “Once these are completed, water grievances of people in the constituency will come down drastically.”

In Sangmaner constituency, the main problem is irrigation water. Independent sitting MLA Satyajeet Tambe says: ”In Shirdi, people struggle to get water for both drinking and farming. But in Sangamner at least there are no issues with drinking water.”

Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat has won Sangmaner eight times and is in the race again. Tambe is his nephew.

Except for constituencies in Kolhapur and a few in Satara like Karad, a majority of the seats in Western Maharashtra, including Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad to a lesser extent, are grappling with water issues.

Ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan, who is contesting from Karad South seat, says that in most parts of the constituency, “people get adequate drinking water”. “In Malkapur city, we have implemented a 24X7 drinking water scheme – perhaps the only one of its kind in the country.”

Despite water being a pressing issue across the region, neither the Mahayuti nor the Maha Vikas Aghadi gave much prominence to it in their manifestos.

The ruling Mahayuti only made a passing promise to make Maharashtra drought-free in five years, by diverting water from western rivers.

Asked about the absence of water issues in the party manifesto, NCP (SP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “Whether it is there in our manifesto or not, it is a top priority for the MVA… We will bring in new schemes to mitigate the water scarcity issue in both cities and rural areas.”