In Madurai, Scarce Water Makes For A Profitable Drought Business.
Madurai: In Tamil Nadu’s Madurai, 43-year-old Shankmukham Nath is the bearer of good news for locals in Nehru Nagar.
As he honks, it signals the arrival of water, costing R 10 for 15 litres.
"People buy from us a can of water for Rs10.
They get angry at us, call and abuse us if we don’t come for even one day," Shankhmukham Nath says while driving the private water tanker.
But for the last three months, she has been spending around R 700 per month to buy water for her family of three.
"There is no corporation water here.
If private tankers are also stopped where will we get our water from?
Even though we have to pay for water, we are at least getting," Uma Devi says.
The government has said that in case of extreme unavailability of water, it will consider taking over the water sources of even private water tankers.