Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje flagged off a month-long water awareness march on Tuesday.
The Jal Chetna Yatra aims to tell people to save water and also help them build water harvesting structures.
During the Yatra, water vans will travel through nearly 18,000 villages in Rajasthan and give out the message of water conservation.
But villagers say they have nothing to save. And instead of these vans, they'd appreciate if the government actually provided them with water instead.
"There is no water, we came here for water, but no one is lending an ear to our water woes," says Chogi Ram, a farmer.
Nearly 30 out of the 33 districts in Rajasthan have alarmingly low water tables, which dip close to ten feet every three years. But the government still says there's no dearth of water.
And the reason it's spending a whopping Rs 400 crores on this yatra is just to make sure the water remains for future generations as well.
"There's no dearth and the future generations need water, for that conservation can be done only in summers which is what the government is doing," says State Education Minister, Rajasthan, Ghanshyam Tiwari.
Meanwhile, the opposition's making sure it fans the farmers' outrage. "Sometimes it's Parivartan Yatra, sometimes Dhanyawad Yatra and sometimes Jansampark Yatra and now Jal Chetna Yatra, they are spending public money for political gains," says Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman, Raghu Sharma.
"The thirsty people will not get water through this nor will it help the drought situation," he adds.
So, while these water vans roll through deserts this summer, people in villages will just have to continue walking those long miles, fetching precious water, which aaccording to the government is in plenty.
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