Water Scarcity kills two children in drought-hit Beed
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In the second drought fatality in a span of two days, an 11-year-old boy died while fetching water from a well in drought-hit Beed district of Marathwada today. Â Â
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Sachin Gopinath Kedar of Veeda village in Kej teshil was fetching water from a well, half-a-kilometre from his home when he slipped and fell to his death, a police official said. Â Â
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On Tuesday, a 12-year-old girl died due to heat stroke in Beed district, while fetching water from an almost dry handpump. Â Â
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Yogita Ashok Desai, a resident of Sabalkhed village in Beed, was dehydrated after she made five attempts to fill water from a hand pump when the day's temperature was 44 degrees Celsius. Â Â
Due to water scarcity in Marathwada, each member of the family, especially children, are compelled to make multiple trips to water tanks and hand pumps in the sweltering heat. Â Â
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Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner Umakant Dangat said only three per cent water is left in dams in the parched Marathwada region. Â Â
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Eight of the region's 11 major dams are at dead storage level implying water from these dams cannot flow out but has to be lifted. Â Â
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This is a drastic decline in water storage as, at this time last year, the level in Marathwada's dams was much higher at 11 percent, Dangat said. Â Â
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As many as 2,745 water tankers are being used in the region compared to 939 this time last year. The Aurangabad Collector has already announced a 20 per cent water cut to local breweries and a 10 percent overall cut to local industry.