Water dispute springs from Dalits' segregated borewell in Kalol village

AHMEDABAD: Water scarcity in Gujarat is throwing up ironical water wars. In an unusual case, the Dalit community of Bharatpur village in Kalol in Gandhinagar district has alleged being threatened and criminally intimidated for denying water from their segregated borewell to the Thakor community after it began to run out of water.

Girish Parmar, a paan shop owner and key representative of local Dalit community, filed an FIR on Thursday against Fatehsinh alias Popatji Thakor, a member of village panchayat, accusing criminal intimidation and casteist slur. Kalol taluka police have filed an FIR under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

As per case details, a segregated borewell was sanctioned for Dalit community in Soja Bharatpur, a settlement of Dalits and Thakors nearly 1 km away on the outskirts of Bharatpur village, from the welfare grant for the SC community on March 23, 2011.

The borewell was sanctioned to resolve insufficient water supply here due to low pressure of water supply.

“Then, the Dalit community representative decided to lay two separate lines of water to share the water supply with Thakors too. Last year, when ground-water level got depleted, we decided to adopt judicious practices and supply water to Dalit and Thakor families only once in the morning. This did not go down well with the accused who often resorted to create ruckus in Rohitvas (Dalit settlement) questioning how can Dalits decide to curtail water supply,” said Bharat Parmar, former village panchayat member.

This simmering tension intensified two months ago. “When water level depleted drastically, we stopped water supply to the Thakor settlement two months ago. Agitated by this, Thakor prompted his community women to stage a protest at sarpanch Daksha Patel’s house on March 21 where a number of women resorted to breaking their earthen water-pots,” said the FIR.

“Later, Thakor rushed to complainant Girish Parmar's house and threatened him with dire consequences,” said the FIR.

Sarpanch Patel said the village, with an estimated population of 8,000 people comprising Thakors, Patels, Dalits and Prajapatis, has witnessed such an incident for the first time. “We would sort out the issue soon,” Patel said.

Investigating officer Bharat Chaudhary, deputy superintendent of police of SC/ST cell, said the accused was apprehended on Thursday itself. He later secured bail from Gandhinagar court.

“As a precautionary measure, we have increased patrolling in village to avoid any caste-related conflict. We have also asked the complainant to approach police if he seeks protection,” said Chaudhary.