Despite 11 days of rainfall in the drought-hit Latur district, the village of Darji Borgaon, with a population of around 2,000, suffered as their source of water, a reservoir, was contaminated by a neighbouring sugarcane factory allegedly owned by a political family of repute in Maharashtra.
Villagers allege that Rena Co-operative Sugarcane Mill has allegedly discharged molasses into the water reservoir, which made the water ‘unfit for consumption’. They claim the sugar mill allegedly owned by Diliprao Deshmukh, member of the state Legislative Council and younger brother of the late Vilasrao Deshmukh, former Maharashtra chief minister, had given an undertaking to the villagers that they will not discharge effluents from the mill into the water body. After refraining from doing so for three years, the mill owners allegedly went back on their word and released the effluents in July this year.
However, when The Hindu contacted Mr Deshmukh, he said, “You can ask the Chairman about this. He knows everything.” Chairman Abasaheb Patil, however, said, “The mill is closed since seven months and these are just tricks by the villagers to defame Mr Deshmukh.” He also said that on Monday, a meeting was conducted with MPCB and the tehsildar on the issue.
The villagers alleged that due to the effluent release from the factory, they had to depend on water tankers during the monsoon. “This year, when Latur received rainfall, the mill owners must have thought if they let the discharge in the reservoir it will get washed away easily, but it did not happen and it polluted the entire water body,” said Ashok Bachda, a potter from the village. The reservoir is almost six km long and contains around five crore litres of water. It is the only source of water for the four villages nearby and the only school that conducts classes till Class X.
Satish Manikrao said children in the village have been falling sick after drinking the water and are complaining of stomach ache, a running nose and skin diseases. The next option available for water consumption is the borewell, but that does not provide clean water.
Deputy Sarpanch of the village, Bhagwat Mane, said they have written to the collector and the tehsildar for action in the case but nothing has been done so far.
Latur’s district collector Pandurang Pole said, “A notice has been issued to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and special arrangements will be made to ensure water is supplied to villagers. We will ensure the mill bears the cost.”
