In drought-hit Maha, murder forces cops to guard water supply points

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, June 16

Local police stations across Maharashtra have been asked to guard water supply points and tankers after recurrent violence in the drought-hit state resulted in a murder a few weeks ago.

Amardeep Rode, a municipal councillor in the Parbhani Municipal Corporation from the Shiv Sena, was hacked to death after he intervened in a dispute between two groups of women who were squabbling over water supply from a public tap in the town. 

The police said Rode objected to some miscreants from his own party who had punctured the tap at another point to steal the water. In the altercation, Rode was attacked with an axe. He died shortly afterwards. The police say disputes between villages and even between neighbours are common as people struggle over a few litres of water. 

“Pitched battles are being fought daily between across Maharashtra as people struggle for drinking water,” a senior police official at the state police headquarters here said. Most of the time the matter ends with non-cognisable offences registered at the nearest police station, but Rode’s murder has shaken up the administration.