Saurashtra ‘water women’ make a splash
RADHA SHARMA
AHMEDABAD: In parched Saurashtra, it is water that is bringing about a
social change. Women who walked miles to fetch a pot of water are now
providing succour to hundreds of water-starved people. And, taking on
established social mores.
Unlettered rural women in Sayla and Chotila talukas of drought-prone
Surendranagar district have started the business of selling water through
tankers at nominal rates in the face of fierce competition. In the process,
they also stormed the male bastion of tanker business in Saurashtra. Using
an Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan, these women have made a splash,
literally, in just 20 days, sparking a price war with those in the business
slashing prices to take on the women brigade. The business is driven by a
core committee of 11 members, supported by other women in the two talukas.
“We charge Rs 150 a tanker, half the market rate, while a pot of water is
supplied for just Re 1. As demand pours in from various villages, we send
hired drivers with a letter. # People deposit the money along with the
order,” says Samuben Dhalvaniya, member of the core committee that manages
the tanker service in Sayla, currently supplying water to six scarcity-hit
villages. In Chotila, the women’s group has started supplying water to
around 25 villages. Each of these talukas has one tanker each. Samuben, who
has never been to school, admits the going was not good to begin with. “We
are all illiterate and had to work hard to convince people that we mean
business,” she says.
Surendranagar district is drought prone and receives an average rainfall of
just 17 inches only. Women are the worst hit, having to walk miles under the
blazing sun to fetch water. ^ The situation only worsened with the erratic
and poor quality of water supplied by the government, providing an
opportunity to private tanker owners to make a killing.
“The women realised that private tanker owners were fleecing the people.
This prompted them to start their own business and an impressed ADB provided
the tankers free,” says Vitthal Kikania, cluster manager of Aga Khan Rural
Support Programme in Sayla, which lends support to the women who are part of
the mahila mandals and mahila manch established by the programme.
The private tanker owners are already seeing red. * They have begun a fierce
price war to prevent the women from carrying on with their business.
“Twenty days ago, we began by charging Rs 250 a tanker, Rs 50 lower than the
market rate.We were forced to cut it down to Rs 150 soon as the private
operators slashed rates further,” says Lakhuben Vashrambhai of Chotila
Mahila Manch.