'Village for sale’: Parched hamlet's desperate plea in Maharashtra

• Around 7,000 residents of Tulshi in Solapur's Madha tehsil have put up a 'Village for Sale, Price: Water' banner to protest a prolonged water crisis.

• Villagers say 800 metres of excavation under the Sina-Madha Lift Irrigation Scheme has remained incomplete for 26 years, leaving them dependent on tankers.

• Despite repeated assurances and sanctioned funds, residents say no permanent solution has emerged and have threatened to intensify their agitation.

Desperate for water as their farms and wells dry up, around 7,000 residents of Tulshi village in Maharashtra's Solapur district have put up a striking banner declaring 'Village for Sale, Price: Water' — a symbolic protest against a water crisis they say has persisted for decades.

The unusual protest in Madha tehsil follows years of government plans and assurances that villagers say have failed to translate into a permanent solution. Incomplete excavation work under the Sina-Madha Lift Irrigation Scheme has left the village without access to the water it was meant to receive, forcing residents to depend almost entirely on tankers.

"The village faces water scarcity every year. Though the canals of the Sina-Madha scheme pass close to the village, we don't benefit from it. By putting up the board saying 'Village for Sale, Price: Water', we are trying to draw the government's attention to our plight," Tulshi sarpanch Sharad More said.

The villagers began a hunger strike on 14 September demanding water and later staged a 'thali-naad' protest, beating utensils outside the Madha tehsil office. They have warned that the agitation will be intensified if their demands are not addressed.

More had earlier said that around 800 metres of excavation work near the seventh and eighth outlets of the Sina-Madha scheme has remained incomplete for the past 26 years. Completing the work, he said, could permanently resolve Tulshi's water crisis.

Residents said the village is already dependent on water tankers and that inadequate rainfall during this year's monsoon has further aggravated the shortage. Although work has been undertaken under the Jal Jeevan Mission, they said the scheme has not been effective because the local water source has dried up.

The crisis has hit the livelihoods of Tulshi's predominantly farming and animal-husbandry-dependent population, while also affecting the personal lives of residents. More claimed that around 350 young men in the village remain unmarried because families are unwilling to give their daughters in marriage there due to the water shortage.

In 2024, the Krishna Valley Development Corporation reportedly approved the provision of water from the Sina-Madha Lift Irrigation Scheme to Tulshi and other drought-prone villages, including Bavi, Paritewadi, Kurdu, Pimpalkhunte, Ambad and Anjangaon. Instructions were also issued for submitting the third revised administrative approval for the scheme.

In January this year, the government announced that Rs 90 lakh had been sanctioned for 2025-26 to supply water through a closed pipeline from the Sina-Madha scheme to the Bhavani percolation tank in Tulshi. The project was expected to help meet the village's drinking water and irrigation requirements.

More, however, said villagers had only heard about funds being sanctioned by the District Planning and Development Committee (DPDC) for the closed pipeline and that no concrete work had begun.

Tulshi has 14 ponds and wells that villagers say have gone completely dry. Filling them, they said, could substantially ease the shortage of water for drinking and irrigation. A proposal and estimate for the work have already been prepared, according to the residents.

Villagers said they had repeatedly submitted representations to the administration and staged protests, but no permanent solution had emerged.

"The board saying 'Village for Sale' is a symbolic protest to draw the government's attention to our water problem. Our agitation will continue until we get water," More said.

Speaking to reporters in Pune, state Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharne acknowledged the issue and said the state government would provide all possible assistance to the village.

With PTI inputs