SANDAS CHINCHOLI/ MUMBAI: If a picture is worth a thousand words, these two—one of a village submerged in floodwaters, the other of the very same village hit by drought—portray microcosms of climate extremes.
The village, surrounded by the river after the Majalgaon dam was built in 1989, became an island, sequestering its 2,154 people. The NDRF’s rescue of a 19-year-old pregnant woman in labour became one of the defining images of the crisis. Sandas Chincholi is among 265 sub-districts (tehsils) in Maharashtra officially declared drought-hit by the state government last week following a deficient monsoon. Sangappa Kapse, 33, who owns four acres, invested heavily in soybean and cotton this season. He spent around ₹ 2 lakh on soybean and ₹ 2.5 lakh on cotton, apart from spending on seeds, spraying, weeding and irrigation. Forty-year-old Biju Kadam grew soybean crop on 2.5 acres and cotton on one acre, spending ₹ 50,000.
As the farmlands have turned cakey, farmers are busy uprooting dead crops having lost hope for their revival. We have been uprooting the crops so that the fields are ready for rabi season and the uprooted crops can be used as fodder,” he said. A year ago, Sandas Chincholi, in Majalgaon taluka, Beed district, was cut off from the world for over eight days following a spate of heavy rain and increased discharge from the Sindphana river, submerging the only bridge connecting the village to the outside world. Exactly a year later, Sandas Chincholi is drought-scarred. The riverbed is dry; while there is some water in the wells, villagers say it may only last two months. The villagers now draw water from the well when the taps are dry. “Now, there is little to show for that investment. He was compelled to uproot the crops and throw them into a bund on the field.
The soy crop initially looked healthy, “but bore no green pods because of the dry spell of over 45 days”.
Potable water, earlier available through taps, reaches the village once in three or four days.
Former sarpanch and resident Shrikrishna Shejwal remains skeptical about the actual implementation of the newly announced drought relief measures, recalling the village’s long-standing demands: a permanent bridge, a KT Weir barrage (water storage structure) and rehabilitation of families living in the flood-prone area. If the kharif crop (soybean and cotton) fails, many fear they will not have the money to sow rabi crops, such as gram and jowar, in the rabi season. “The bridge is needed to ensure that the village does not become an island whenever the river rises. We were assured of our rehabilitation to a safer place adjacent to our village. But the cattle grazing land identified by the government is too small to match the current size of the villagers’ land. The government had also assured us that it would bear the cost of construction of houses and provide other amenities. “The agricultural pumps were washed away; electricity poles were uprooted and the fields had to be levelled to make them cultivable again.
Kadam, who supports a family of seven, now works at a wholesale dealer’s warehouse for a monthly salary of ₹ 12,000. We should have received ₹ 17,000 per hectare, but most of us have received only ₹ 4000 to ₹ 5000, according to rules. I received ₹ 4500 and have very little hope for compensation this time. They said around 2,000 hectares of soybean, cotton and sugarcane in the surrounding area have been affected by a deficient monsoon. Despite the state government’s 12-measure drought relief plan for the 265 talukas, past unfulfilled promises have left rural communities doubtful about effective on-ground execution. The proposal for a ₹ 100 crore-bridge was passed in a few years ago but there has not been any progress so far.
“The failed crop translates to not only lost income but also loss of capital already invested in cultivation,” he said. All of that is still awaited,” said Shejwal. Four-term former sarpanch of the village, farmers faced challenges restoring farmlands damaged by the floods last year, according to Ashok Kadam. Farmers spent a huge amount of money and labour to restore their fields, but not a single penny was reimbursed by the government despite assurances,” he said.
“No farmer in the village has received the full compensation promised by the government after suffering losses in last year’s flooding. the villagers needed rescue boats to help them out of the flooded farmlands, this year they are waiting for rain While last year.
