SOLAPUR: Desperate for water and watching their farms and wells dry up, residents of a village in Maharashtra's Solapur district have put up a striking banner declaring "Village for Sale", pricing their parched hamlet solely in water.
This unusual form of protest by 7,000 residents of Tulshi in Madha tehsil follows decades of government plans and assurances that have not materialised.
Incomplete excavation work on the Sina-Madha Lift Irrigation Scheme has left their village dry for several years, forcing them to depend entirely on water tankers.
"The village faces water scarcity every year. Though the canals of the Sina-Madha scheme pass close to the village, we don't benefit from it. By putting up the board saying 'Village for Sale, Price: Water', we are trying to draw the government's attention to our plight," said Sharad More, sarpanch of Tulshi.
Villagers launched a hunger strike on September 14 demanding water and later staged a 'thali-naad' (beating of utensils) protest outside the Madha tehsil office. They have warned of intensifying the agitation if the issue is not resolved.
More had earlier said that around 800 metres of excavation work near the seventh and eighth outlets of the Sina-Madha scheme has remained incomplete for the past 26 years.
The excavation work, if completed, can permanently resolve Tulshi's water problem, he had said.
According to residents, the village is already dependent on water tankers and the inadequate rainfall this monsoon has further aggravated the shortage.
Although works have been undertaken under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the scheme has not been effective, as the local water source has dried up, they said.
Not only has the water crisis severely impacted the livelihoods of Tulshi's residents, who are mostly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, it has also affected their personal lives, trapping several young men from the village in bachelorhood.
More claimed that around 350 men from Tulshi remain unmarried, as no one is willing to give them brides.
In 2024, the Krishna Valley Development Corporation reportedly approved the provision of water from the Sina-Madha Lift Irrigation Scheme to Tulshi and other drought-prone villages, including Bavi, Paritewadi, Kurdu, Pimpalkhunte, Ambad and Anjangaon.
Instructions were also issued for submitting the third revised administrative approval for the scheme.
In January this year, it was announced that Rs 90 lakh had been sanctioned for 2025-26 to supply water through a closed pipeline from the Sina-Madha scheme to the Bhavani percolation tank in Tulshi.
The work was expected to help address the village's drinking water and irrigation requirements, according to the announcement.
More, however, said that they have heard about some funds from DPDC sanctioned for the closed pipeline, but no concrete steps have been taken.
Tulshi has 14 bone-dry ponds and wells, and filling them could substantially ease the drinking and irrigation water shortage, villagers said, adding that a proposal and estimate for the work had already been prepared.
Villagers said that they had repeatedly submitted representations to the administration and staged protests, but no permanent solution had emerged.
"The board saying 'Village for Sale' is a symbolic protest to draw the government's attention to our water problem. Our agitation will continue until we get water," More said.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, state Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne acknowledged the issue and said the state government will provide all possible help to the village.