Issapur: At a village in the suburbs of Delhi, a chronic water problem has left many young men facing prolonged bachelorhood.
Issapur in Najafgarh in the capital's north has not seen a wedding for several years, and villagers link it to the water crisis.
"People come here and the minute they see the water situation, they change their mind. (They) say they don't want to get their daughters married off here. There are so many who are touching 30 and still haven't got married," says Prem Singh, 28, pointing at his friend, 31-year-old Narender.
Narender retorts, "There were two proposals for Prem Singh, but the families ran when they saw him chasing a water tanker. They must have wondered whether their daughters would have to do the same."
For most villagers, this is no laughing matter.
An old man tells us, "I've been trying to get my nephew married for a long time. I gave him clean new clothes in the hope that it will work but when nothing does, I still have to make sure he washes his clothes so that we can try again."
Roshni Dagar, returning home with half a bucket of drinking water borrowed from a neighbour, isn't surprised. "It's natural for people to worry about their daughter getting married into a hard life," she says.
Sushila Dagar stares at four empty water drums in her home as she complains, "Water has to be filled from tankers. Women have to climb the tankers to extract water with the help of pipes. Many fall and hurt themselves. Why would anyone knowingly want to go through that?"
Issapur depends on erratic water supply from the Delhi Jal Board. That means every morning, women queue up by the roadside with water containers. They wait all day and if the tanker doesn't show up, they simply repeat the drill the next day.
Villagers here wonder why access to water is such a struggle for them even though they are a part of the country's capital city.
with thanks : NDTV : LINK
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