As several parts of India face a severe water crisis, a video shows the extreme nature of the scarcity. In a drought-affected village, children can be seen climbing down the walls of an almost dried-up well to fetch the remaining water.
The dangerous scenes are from the village of Dindori in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The shortage, which has been called the country's worst water crisis in a decade, is also affecting the neighbouring states of Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh.
#WATCH: Children risk their lives, climb down an almost dried up well in a village in Dindori (MP) to fetch waterhttps://t.co/yfNXHcvVex
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 9, 2016
The government has started water trains to offer relief to the parched Latur district near Mumbai in Maharashtra. The scarcity in the state sparked off criticism of the wastage of water to maintain Mumbai's Wankhede cricket stadium for the ongoing Indian Premier League tournament. The authorities have now promised to use treated sewage water instead.
Even though summer is just beginning in India, the ongoing drought is due to poor monsoon rains in 2013 and 2015 and higher-than-usual temperatures. While India's weather office has predicted above-normal rains this year, the relief may be a tad too late.