BELAGAVI: One pot of water a day. That’s what each family of Vadgaon village in Belagavi’s Khanapur taluk is allowed to fill from the village well. And if they take an extra pot of water, they are fined `500. All because of water scarcity in Vadgaon and parts of north Karnataka reeling under the worstever drought this year.
The fast-depleting water table has forced the Vadgaon gram panchayat to enforce this rule. Though the village has two wells, drawing water from one well affects the level in the other. This led to fights. So the panchayat stepped in and ruled that water can be drawn from only one well. Sunil Shankar Desai, a gram panchayat member, said, “The water from Kusmalli village to Vadgaon is too polluted and unfit for even bathing.”