10 days of rain wipes out four years of drought in Marathwada. Now it’s a deluge

CELEBRATIONS ARE on in Marathwada. It’s been raining for nearly 10 days now, and the region till recently in the news for a water train is marking the end of four years of drought with sweets, drums and photos next to overflowing dams. While delighted, officials now have a different problem on their hands: eight people have died in the past few days in Beed due to water-related incidents. Villages have got inundated, and in Beed, the NDRF had to be called in for help.

Officials said small and medium projects in all the eight districts of Marathwada are overflowing, while the big capacity dams too are either full or have crossed the 50 per cent mark. One of Beed’s biggest dams, Bindusara, is full after 10 years. More rain is predicted in the coming week.

Beed District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said the district had received around 45 per cent of its average rainfall in the past four years. Till Sunday, in the showers brought by a retreating monsoon, Beed had received 105 per cent rainfall. The district has crossed its annual average rainfall mark of 666 mm, with 700 mm rain.

On Sunday, many people gathered to watch the opening of the sluice gates of the overflowing Majalgaon dam (16 TMC capacity) in the district, done for the first time in four years.

Acknowledging the celebrations, Ram said, “We are now facing a problem of plenty. There is not a single well or lake or

Sluice gates of Majalgaon dam in Beed opened after 4 years