Despite receiving over 150 mm of average rainfall this May, all eight districts in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region still have 370 villages relying on water tankers, officials said on Tuesday.
Marathwada comprises Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Latur, Dharashiv, Nanded, Parbhani and Hingoli districts.
The average rainfall recorded across all these eight districts was 153.8 mm in the current month with Parbhani receiving 104.3 mm rainfall and Dharashiv 230.9 mm.
But despite that, more than 570 tankers are currently supplying water to the villages, the figures mentioned in a report issued by the divisional commissioner office said.
On May 6, a total of 435 tankers were providing water to 278 villages in Marathwada. But as per the May 26 data, the number of tankers has gone up to 573, while the count of villages where water is being supplied through them stood at 370.
The district-wise data of rainfall and tankers is as follows: Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar 141.4 mm (273 tankers), Jalna 157.4 mm (190 tankers), Nanded 110.5 mm (57 tankers), Dharashiv 230.9 mm (25 tankers), Hingoli 110.7 mm (16 tankers), Beed 181.2 mm (seven tankers), Parbhani 104.3 mm (three tankers) and Latur 206.5 mm (two tankers), the report says.