Yavatmal water crisis triggers Pushpa-style protest: Sarpanches don sarees, daub faces with paint, sit on indefinite fast

Yavatmal: Sarpanches in parched Yavatmal, a district infamous for farm suicides, resorted to ‘Pushpa'-style defiance to protest the worsening drinking water crisis in hamlets of Arni taluka, particularly Kinhi village. The village headmen donned sarees, daubed their face with paint like the protagonist of blockbuster film ‘Pushpa' and sat on an indefinite hunger strike on Monday. The dramatic protests followed the district administration's inability to solve the water crisis, despite repeated complaints to the zilla parishad to implement the flagship Jal Jeevan Mission project, which remains in deep freeze.
Three years ago, the project work kicked off with fanfare, but on the ground, village women are still forced to trek 3km every day to fetch drinking water. With the summer scorcher round the corner, Yavatmal is on the edge.
Every summer, Kinhi and neighbouring villages face severe water crisis. The situation in Kinhi is particularly alarming, with wells and tubewells lying defunct. The gram panchayat sought implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission, but the contractor who bagged the project has been dragging his feet.
The sarpanches petitioned the zilla parishad's water supply department, but their requests were ignored. Angered by the inaction, the sarpanches resorted to a sartorial revolution — Pushpa-style — and the demonstrations drew widespread attention and put the administration on back foot. Kinhi sarpanch Ravindra Rathod warned that protests will continue till the Jal Jeevan Mission work is completed. "Villagers are facing immense hardships. And till our demands are met, we will not call off the protest. The agitation began this morning. Some officials of Jal Jeevan Mission advised us to withdraw the protest, but we are firm in our stand."