Karnataka: Superstition kills, villagers empty tank for rain

Ballari: Despite the severity of  the drought, a good quantity of water was stored in a  500-year old tank built by the Palegars of Gudekote in Ramadurga village,  Kudligi taluk , while other tanks nearby had long gone dry. A source of water to the people of neighbouring villages as well, its storage had increased following the heavy rains of last week. 

But Tuesday morning the villagers of Ramadurga did the unthinkable. Although thirsting for water, they opened the sluices of the tank and let out all its water, emptying it completely. The irrational move was reportedly prompted by a “divine message” received by a village elder that once the tank was emptied the village would get rain.

The old man spoke of his “divine message”' to some fellow villagers Monday night and within no time, talk of it spread across the village. And Tuesday morning, without any further discussion, the  tank was emptied.

But ask former president of the Ramadurga Tank Water Utilising Farmers’ Union, Surya Papanna and he says he has no idea who opened  the tank sluices on the basis of the 'divine message'. Other villagers too are tightlipped about the identity  of the village elder who claimed to have received it.

Some  villagers, however , say  the tank water was released as it had become stagnant and polluted. "The tank was emptied to release the water for the sake of the people’s health. Also, as it is now empty we may get work under MNREGA for desilting it," they added.

When contacted, Kudligi tahasildar, L Krishna Murthy claimed he had no information on the issue , but promised to appeal to the villagers not to waste water over some superstition.