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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Marathwada's drought: In the midst of severe economic downturn, private water sellers reap profits in Latur -Tushar Dhara

Marathwada's drought: In the midst of severe economic downturn, private water sellers reap profits in Latur -Tushar Dhara

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published Published on Apr 10, 2016   modified Modified on Apr 10, 2016
-FirstPost.com

Latur: A city with a population of five lakh, Latur offers a peek into a possible dystopian future for the rest of India. In the middle of the most severe drought of the past half century, everything here revolves around water.  Social gatherings, family outings, VIP visits and administrative meetings are all connected in some way to water scarcity and ways to address it. Unless a solution to the water problem is found, what is happening in Latur could become the norm in the rest of India.

In Latur, where almost every sector is reeling under recession, the business of selling water is booming. The severe water scarcity has created an opportunity for profiteers to cash in on the crisis and sell water at exorbitant rates.

Supplying water gives the best return on investment, far greater than cultivating cash crops or starting an industrial unit. “People with access to water find it more profitable to sell it, rather than use it for any other purpose,” Ravindra Jagtap, a journalist who runs a news service covering Latur, said during an interview with Firstpost.

As per Jagtap’s estimates, the cost of pumping 6,000 litres of water from a borewell in a rural area is around Rs 50, as the agricultural meters are subsidised. The borewell owners sell the water to a supplier for Rs 400, making a profit of 800 percent. The cost of a water tanker triples to Rs 1,200 by the time it is sold in Latur town.

Jagtap says around 600 tankers of different capacities operate in Latur town. A rough calculation suggests that if each tanker makes five trips a day and charges Rs 800 per trip then the turnover of the “water economy” is Rs 24 lakh per day.

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FirstPost.com, 8 April, 2016, http://www.firstpost.com/india/marathwadas-drought-in-the-midst-of-severe-economic-downturn-private-water-sellers-reap-profits-in-latur-2717106.html


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