'If no water in dam, do we urinate in it?'

Pune (Agencies): Maharashtra's deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday ridiculed a two-month-long protest by a farmer demanding the release of water from a dam for his parched field. In a shocking statement, Pawar said, "There is this person from Solapur, sitting on hunger strike for 55 days demanding water be released from the dam. But where are we going to get water from? Should we urinate? And when we are not getting water to drink even urine is not coming easily." Pawar is also the nephew of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Commenting on the shortage of electricity, Pawar made another controversial remark. "I have also come to know that since there is a shortage of electricity in Maharashtra, the population is increasing," Pawar said while speaking at a rally in Indapur, Pune. As the crowd laughed, Pawar paused and then added, "All of you must be thinking that I have taken (liquor) in the day itself." The crowd again laughed out. The crude comments come at a time when many parts of Maharashtra, especially Marathwada, are reeling under a severe drought. Of the total 34 districts, the worst-affected are Solapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Satara, Beed and Nashik. The situation is also serious in Buldhana, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Aurangabad, Jalna, Jalgaon and Dhule districts. Though the state government has taken a policy decision that water from dams would be first used to meet drinking water needs, RTI queries have revealed that the water is being diverted to irrigate sugarcane fields. Ajit Pawar had to also resign after allegations were levelled against him in the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam as he held the irrigation and water resources portfolio for a nearly a decade. However, the party reinstated him later. The Maharashtra government and Sharad Pawar have claimed that the drought in Maharashtra is the worst since 1972. But water activists and experts have repeatedly pointed out that the drought is largely man made and worsened by poor water management policies.