Spectre of Drought still hanging over Abu

The spectre of Drought hanging over Abu
 

It is this time of the year Abuites both wait and dread with bated breath, the onset of monsoons. Gone are the days when this Abode of Gods was blessed with profuse rainfall of 180 inches on an average. I recall with fond memories, Brother Barry summoning us to the big pitch in front of the school with a tennis ball in his hand. We would all wait with bated breath as he would hurl the ball into the sky and we boys would all be prepared to catch it. Never had the boys ever missed catching it as our ‘Sunshine Holiday’ depended on it. This ritual would be repeated once or twice during this period. Abu during this period would be completely covered in cloud cover for almost three months, and the face of the sun would only peek through this cover once or twice giving us the much awaited sunshine holiday.

Today, this Abode hardly attracts more than 40 inches of rainfall, and this year it has left us all apprehensive as we are approaching the end of July and have had only a few showers with a little over “3” inches of rain. It’s ironic that once this place yearned for the monsoons to be over with, today cry with despair for a better than an average monsoon. With the rainfall becoming erratic and scarce, water harvesting is the pressing need of the hour. As the only source of water in Mount Abu is the unpredictable monsoon, it is imperative that Abu should go ahead with its Saigon project that was proposed over 15 years ago.


The Specter of drought which is still hanging over this hill station could turn into a real nightmare if the monsoons do not break soon. The coming year and years will prove even more difficult as demand increases and sources of fresh water supply dry up due to Global warming. Only hope we have a better than average monsoon this year, or the prospects will be ‘terrifying’ as Abu could come to a grinding halt. For us Abuites, there is no salvation as we depend 100% on the monsoon rains, our businesses and our very livelihood depends on the rain gods, we are already going through a water crisis and further depletion in water supply would gravely jeopardize not only the population but the whole of this Eco-zone.


It is imperative that the ruling body and the Rajasthan Government readies an action plan for effective water resource management. What Abu needs urgently is to halt the mismanagement of water and plugging of all leakages in the existing reservoirs. Construction of new dams should be put into action immediately to keep pace with the growing population of Abu. Many plans and umpteen suggestions have been put forward by the elite of Abu to the authorities, but only a lethargic response has been made by the Government. Therefore it is high time Abuites should shoulder the responsibility of making the Government pay heed to the challenges that face Abu.