Khammam: Summer is the most stressful season for the housewives of Bhukyathanda under Garla mandal. There are 120 women, including girls, and almost all of them spend a major portion of their time only for fetching water.
The eleven borewells in the hamlet have dried up. There is no drinking irrigation scheme in the village. The major complaint of these women is that their earnings are being hit as they are not able to go out to work due to the water crisis.
Most women used to go to work under the NREGS but now, they are unable to go because of the time spent in fetching water. Banothu Rama, an elderly woman said, “From adolescence to old age, women have the responsibility of bringing water. Only after that can there be food cooked in the house. She has been taught this right from childhood.”
There is an agricultural well three km away from Bhukyathanda and the women, usually go in groups are get water from it. Bhukyathanda has 140 families and all of them belong to scheduled tribes. The government dug eight borewells in the village to cater to their water needs. But there is no water in these borewells.
The people of the village have been requesting for a protected drinking water scheme since long but to no avail. The Telangana government plans to elevate all the thandas into gram panchayats and the locals are hopeful that drinking water problems would get resolved, once it is done. Women hope that there would be an end to their endless walk under the TRS rule.
