- Title: 'We hide from the police': Indian children steal water for their families
- Date: 25th September 2019
- Summary: AURANGABAD, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA (RECENT - JULY 2019) (REUTERS) NINE-YEAR-OLD, SAKSHI GARUD, WHO TRAVELS FOR 14 KMS TO GET WATER FOR HER FAMILY SITTING ALONG WITH ANOTHER CHILD IN A MOVING TRAIN VARIOUS OF A CHILD HOLDING THE RAILWAY SUPPLY PIPE CAN BEING FILLED WITH WATER FROM A RAILWAY SUPPLY PIPE SAKSHI GETTING INSIDE THE TRAIN TRAIN MOVING WATER PITCHERS KEPT IN TRAIN VIEW FROM MOVING TRAIN TRAIN MOVING PAST (SOUNDBITE) (Marathi) NINE-YEAR-OLD, SAKSHI GARUD, WHO TRAVELS FOR 14 KMS TO GET WATER FOR HER FAMILY, SAYING: "When we go to fetch water, the railway people tell us not to fill the water and they throw away the filled water." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING FOR TRAIN WOMAN AND A MAN TAKING OUT PITCHERS CONTAINING WATER FROM THE TRAIN MAN CARRYING A CAN FILLED WITH WATER ON HIS SHOULDER (SOUNDBITE) (Marathi) SAKSHI'S MOTHER, SWATI GARUD, SAYING: "I feel scared. Every day I wait for the train to come and think whether my daughter is getting down from the train (properly) or not...I feel scared and think what if her leg slips someday and my mind is always occupied with these thoughts. I keep waiting for the train and once I see it coming I feel relieved." GOATS PASSING BY VARIOUS OF SAKSHI SITTING UNDER A TREE AND STUDYING / A CHILD SWINGING VARIOUS OF A MAN MILKING A COW SAKSHI'S MOTHER COMBING HER HAIR SAKSHI'S GRANDMOTHER SITABAI KAMBLE WASHING UTENSILS (SOUNDBITE) (Marathi) SAKSHI'S GRANDMOTHER, SITABAI KAMBLE, SAYING: "We hide from the police. The moment we see them, we hide. We never go in front of them. We close the door and then fill the water." A MOVING TRAIN SIDDHARTH DHAGE, A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO ALSO TRAVELS FOR 14 KMS TO GET WATER FOR HIS FAMILY, CLIMBING ON A PIPE TO TURN ON A RAILWAY TAP DHAGE FILLING PITCHER (SOUNDBITE) (Marathi) SIDDHARTH DHAGE, A TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO ALSO TRAVELS FOR 14 KMS TO GET WATER FOR HIS FAMILY, SAYING: "I go to the school at 8 a.m. and come back at 1 p.m. and at 4 p.m. I go to get water. After I come back, I sit down to study. I don't get any time to play." DHAGE WALKING PAST RAILWAY OFFICIAL SHOOING AWAY DHAGE AND ASKING HIM TO RETURN THE PIPE MAN PUTTING THE PIPE BACK IN A HANDLE WOMAN CARRYING A PITCHER AND WALKING SIDDHARTH DHAGE PLAYING WITH A BALL
- Embargoed: 9th October 2019 07:15
- Keywords: India Aurangabad water rail station children Maharashtra
- Location: AURANGABAD, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
- City: AURANGABAD, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Living / Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001AY5LXZB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As their classmates set off to play after school each day, nine-year-old Sakshi Garud and her neighbour Siddharth Dhage, 10, are among a small group of children who take a 14-km (9-mile) return train journey from their village in India to fetch water.
Their families are some of the poorest in the hamlet of Mukundwadi, in the western state of Maharashtra, a village that has suffered back-to-back droughts.
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% below average this year and aquifers and borewells are dry.
The children take the train daily to fetch water from the nearby city of Aurangabad. The train is often overcrowded, so a group of small children jostling to get on board with pitchers to fill with water is not always welcome.
"When we go to fetch water, the railway people tell us not to fill the water and they throw away the filled water," Garud said.
Garud's grandmother Sitabai Kamble and an elderly neighbor 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.
A water tanker costs up to 3,000 Indian rupees ($41.70) during summers, unaffordable for most of the people in the area, said Sakshi's mother Swati Garud.
She realises the perils of sending Sakhshi to get water but, like other daily wage labourers, she cannot miss work.
"I feel scared. Every day I wait for the train to come and think whether my daughter is getting down from the train (properly) or not...I feel scared and think what if her leg slips someday and my mind is always occupied with these thoughts. I keep waiting for the train and once I see it coming I feel relieved."
Dhage said this activity takes up precious time he could spend playing outside.
"I go to the school at 8 a.m. and come back at 1 p.m. and at 4 p.m. I go to get water. After I come back, I sit down to study. I don't get any time to play," said Dhage.
They are not alone. Millions of Indians do not have secure water supplies, according to the UK-based charity, WaterAid. It says 12% of Indians, or about 163 million people, do not have access to clean water near their homes - the biggest proportion of any country.
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