Worries Deepen For Rural Madurai As River Vaigai Shrinks | Read

Just 30 km away from Tamil Nadu's Madurai town, 38-year-old Ramachandran can barely walk through his dying fields of maize, spread over three acres of land. Scarcity of water has left him with nothing this harvest season. His family of six is dependent on him. "There is no water... even for drinking, someone from an NGO comes and gives us (water) once a week. Vaigai (dam) has dried up and we have not got anything from the government,", Ramachandran said, adding that his hopes are now pinned on just thirty three cents of cropped land left, provided he gets water.