Siddharth Dhage, 10, waits to board a train with empty water containers, at Mukundwadi railway station, Aurangabad, India July 20, 2019. — Reuters pic
India’s monsoons have brought abundant rain and even floods in many parts of the country, but rainfall in the region around Mukundwadi has been 14 per cent below average this year and aquifers and borewells are dry.“This is my daily routine,” said Garud. Their cramped shanty homes are just 200 metres from the train station. “After coming from school, I don’t get time to play. I need to get water first.
More than 100 families in Garud and Dhage’s neighbourhood do not have access to piped water and many depend on private water suppliers, who charge up to 3,000 rupees for a 5,000-litre tanker during summer months. Garud’s grandmother Sitabai Kamble and an elderly neighbour help occasionally by pushing them on board in the face of irritable passengers.When the train pulls into Aurangabad thirty minutes later, they scramble to fill the pitchers at nearby water pipes. Garud can’t reach the tap, so she relies on her taller sister, Aaysha, 14, and grandmother.