TULSHI/SOLAPUR: ‘Village for sale’, says the poster in Tulshi village in Solapur district. The startling, bold words express anger, sarcasm and a deep disquiet among residents waiting for decades for irrigated water.Sarpanch Sharad More said, “Anyone wanting to buy our village can step forward. For outsiders, the poster is funny, but it reflects how govt has been fooling us for 25 years.”Tulshi is a mere nine km from Sina-Madha lift irrigation scheme, but gets none of its benefits. Residents said they have been left out of the canal network that draws water from Ujani dam and supplies it to several neighbouring villages.The scheme became operational in 2000. Other villages cultivate water-intensive cash crops like sugar cane, vegetables and fruit plantations, including grapes and pomegranates, but Tulshi waits for uncertain rainfall.The village is the last settlement in Madha tehsil. Residents said its saucer-like terrain, surrounded by higher ground, makes it particularly difficult to hold water without a dedicated canal or a pipeline network.The crisis is acute this year. According to the district record, several villages in Madha, including Tulshi, have received no rainfall in the last 45 days. Tulshi’s water bodies have little or no water, while wells and percolation lakes have dried up.“We have been getting tankers since July. That is a reflection of our situation here,” More said.For generations of farmers, the Sina-Madha project has promised to transform agriculture. But villagers said these assurances remain unfulfilled despite politicians’ interventions. “This year, the situation is so grim that we are forced to protest,” villager Pramod Vasekar said.The grim situation led to an indefinite fast by villagers on Ganesh Chaturthi. They submitted a memorandum to the tehsildar warning of collective self-immolation if their water demand was not met.They also threatened to boycott elections. The protest was called off on Friday after water resources minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil spoke to them.Solapur district collector S Karthikeyan said the irrigation department has conducted a hydrological survey of Tulshi and examined scientific and technical parameters.“Based on their findings, we will send a proposal to the state govt for a canal network to Tulshi and three other villages,” he told TOI.A senior irrigation official from Krishna Valley Development Corporation said a technical analysis of Tulshi, Bavi, Paritewadi and Anjangaon Khurd was conducted in 2023. “The project cost was around Rs 46.49 crore then, which will escalate now,” he added.Of the 14 water bodies across the four villages, six can be filled through closed pipelines, while the remaining eight would require pumps.“After govt’s approval, work on the ground will take some years. These villages require the pipeline. Otherwise, their struggle for water is not going to end for years,” the irrigation official added.For Tulshi’s farmers, the crisis is visible in their fields. Farmers have abandoned fruit plantations and stopped planning fresh cultivation. Nearly 2,700 hectares of agricultural land may turn barren once the monsoon retreats.An emotional Pandurang Mali said, “It kills me every day to see my crop wither. I can’t water them. I tried to hire tankers, but I can’t afford them now.”Mali, 47, once cultivated about 1,000 pomegranate trees on two acres. His house stands on the now-abandoned plantation. “I poured my sweat and blood into this plantation. Last year, I earned Rs 6 lakh, but nothing this year. I don’t know how I am going to live,” he said.His plantation is barely 100m from one of the village’s water bodies. “If we get canal water, we don’t need any govt help. We will be self-reliant,” Mali said.Farmers turned to dairy farming a few years ago. Almost every family owns cows or buffaloes, but they too are reeling under the water and fodder crisis. “We will have to buy fodder at high prices because of the shortage,” Vasekar said.The village’s social fabric is also wearing thin. “Men are unmarried because nobody wants to give them their daughters. Families reject proposals because of the water crisis. Govt needs to understand all this,” Mali said.The villagers said that employment, household finances, livestock, migration, and the younger generation have also been affected. “And therefore, we feel we should sell our village,” More said.
