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In drought-hit Latur, 10,000 litres water wasted for minister's visit

MUMBAI: Even as Latur and the entire Marathwada region are reeling under a severe drought, 10,0000 litres of water were wasted there on Friday to create a makeshift helipad for the arrival of relief and rehabilitation minister Eknath Khadse to the district. The waste of water attracted considerable criticism from activists as well as the opposition.Khadse, who was in Latur to receive the third water train from Miraj, travelled from there to Belkund, which is only 40 minutes away from Latur city by road, to inaugurate a water supply project. However, instead of taking the road, he took the heli copter, for whose landing a temporary helipad had been built by using 10,000 litres of water.“He could have easily taken the road to reach Belkund, but in order to save 15-20 minutes of his time, he decided to fly and waste a lot of water,“ said state Congress spokesperson Sanjay Sawant.Khadse said that it was not true that 10,000 litres of water had been used. “The amount of water required for the helicopter to land safely was only used,“ said Khadse in a press statement. Sawant said on the one hand, the government was sending water trains to meet the villagers' needs, and on the other, the minister was using to fly to Belkund in order to take credit for a water supply project.Experts said the amount of water wasted in creating the helipad would have sufficed the drinking needs of an entire village.CM Devendra Fadnavis had said he was fine with IPL matches being moved out of Maharashtra as the state was reeling under a severe drought. However, 10,000 litres of water has been used in the parched Marathwada region for a helipad so that a minister in his cabinet could land there.The irony is that even the water for the helipad was carried to the spot by a tanker. Two questions beg an answer here: Why was so much water, which could have been useful to so many families there, misused in this manner? And why did the minister travel by air though the spot was barely 40 minutes from Latur? Why not take the road instead?