The people of villages in Gadag, Dharwad and Bagalkot districts in Karnataka have struggled for decades in their quest for equitable access to drinking water.
Akkamma, a student, travels 2 km twice a day to fetch water from Kalkere, a pond on the outskirts of her village Hombala. Here, it is quite common to see people ferrying pots in pushcarts, bicycles and motorbikes to draw water either from borewells or the nearest ponds and lakes.
The Kalasa Banduri Nala project under the Mahadayi project is just one of the long-pending proposals for the region. The villagers say it is the lack of political will that is the root cause of the problem in the region, which has given the State several Chief Ministers.
