Watch | String of applications tied to his body, man crawls to MP govt office to highlight water woes

Bhopal: A man from Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district attached several written applications to a string tied to his body and crawled to the divisional commissioner’s office to highlight water “shortage” in his village.

Bishankhedi resident Bajrangi told reporters on Wednesday that he resorted to the unusual method as accessing water is a huge challenge in his village, a claim contested by the authorities.

“I have arrived here for water. I had submitted applications to the collector, minister and the chief minister to highlight the water crisis in the village. When nothing happened, I came here with a trail of complaints,” he said.

Bajrangi also accused his village sarpanch of stalling efforts to resolve the problem and indulging in corruption.

He claimed that water scarcity is so acute that people, especially women, are forced to carry water in just a lota for nature’s call.

However, officials in the district disagreed with Bajrangi’s claims.

Public Health Engineering department’s executive engineer Pradeep Saxena told reporters on Thursday that officials visited Bishankhedi on Wednesday and found that there was a water shortage near the community centre.

An alternative arrangement was made there by digging a borewell, he said. Water is being stored in a tank by installing a pump in this borewell, the official said.

The village has a population of 2,100, and it has 20 hand pumps, of which 12 are functional, the official said.

According to Saxena, most houses in the village have their own water source from which even other villagers get water.

This is not the first time MP witnessed an unusual protest by citizens to highlight their plights.

Last July, an elderly farmer rolled on the floor of the collectorate in Mandsaur district, claiming that no action had been taken on his complaint of alleged land grabbing.

In December 2024, a farmer, his wife and three children walked on their knees at the sub-divisional magistrate’s office complex in Khategaon town in Dewas district to raise their problem due to a land dispute.

The farmer, Lakshaman, claimed that his representations to the authorities had yielded no results. However, the then SDM said the farmer had lost his land dispute case against a neighbour in a court and it was not possible for them to intervene in the matter directly.

The tehsildar and patwari were, however, instructed to find a way out on humanitarian grounds.