4250 water bodies have `vanished’ in last one decade in Bundelkhand

Amid the raging debate over prevailing drought in Bundelkhand and struggle to get a bucket of water, the dossiers of Uttar Pradesh Government shows that over 4250 water bodies have `vanished’ in last one decade from this rugged region.

“This is in official record that over 4250 water bodies have disappeared in last one decade. But how all this happened no one knows. The DMs and tehsildars of all the seven districts of Bundelkhand could not explain as where these water bodies have gone,” a senior official in Revenue Department told The Pioneer here recently.

In 1950 total number of water bodies in Bundelkhand was 21,785 against the total number of water bodies in state numbering 875435. But gradually this number has gone down. 

Till 2016 a total of 4,020 water bodies had vanished from Bundelkhand — 151 in Chitrakoot, 869 in Banda, 541 in Hamirpur and 2,459 in Jhansi. “In last three years over 200 more water bodies were lost. This could be because of lack of rain in last three years taking the number of lost water bodies to around 4250,” the official said.

Bundelkhand has one of the lowest levels of per capita income and human development in the country, largely due to frequent droughts caused by water scarcity. Agriculture experts opine that vanished water bodies and community-managed ponds has resulted in fall of water level and frequent droughts.

Bhagwat Prasad, of Akhil Bharatiya Samaj Sewa Sansthan and NGO in Chitrakoot said that these ponds acts as sponge and helps in charging of ground water during rains. “Land sharks are responsible for vanishing of water bodies. The lure of lucre has forced administration to look other way as builders and illegal miners exploited water bodies of Bundelkhand,” he said.

The issue came to light for the first time through RTI application when respondent asked for details of water bodies in seven district of Bundelkhand — Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi and Hamirpur.

The RTI prompted the revenue department to take up surveys to assess the magnitude of encroachment over water bodies in the state. At the same time in 2012 Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court asked the authorities to ensure that no land grabbing was allowed in this way.

The court had also directed the authorities to inform about the ponds that have been covered and constructions had come over them. It also directed them to furnish information about the ponds that still existed so that further steps could be taken in this matter.

After the court order government said that encroachments were removed from 3,852 water bodies. But government is not clear as how much of them are in Bundelkhand region.

Bhagwat Prasad said that water is the fundamental right. “Even Supreme Court has ordered that the protection of natural lakes and ponds honours the most basic fundamental right—the right to life—which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.

“Now we have reached a scenario where people are grappling to get a bucket of water. All the ponds and lakes have gone dry. The water level has dropped ominously low. This has happened because we are not protecting our water bodies,” he said.