Beed district witnesses large-scale migration

The Beed district of Maharashtra is witnessing a large-scale migration, thanks to the steadily worsening drought condition in the Marathwada region. 

Of the eight districts in  Marathwada, Beed is the worst-affected – as 190-plus farmer suicides since January this year indicate. August has been worst for the district as 105 farmers ended their lives last month by either hanging themselves in trees of their fields or consuming poison and pesticides.

People from interiors of Beed district have started moving to places like Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Aurangabad and Hyderabad. The Beed district comprises seven talukas – Beed Ashti, Gevrai, Ambajogai, Kaij, Parli-Vaijinath and Majalgaon.

While a majority of which depend on agriculture, a lot of people work as labourers across India. Several migrate to other parts of the state including western Maharashtra during the sugarcane-cutting season, but this time, it has started even before that.

“The issue is serious…as far as our information goes, more than 1.5 to 1.8 lakh people have already migrated,” said Dr Bharatbhushan Kshirsagar, former president of Beed Municipal Council.

“Beed city is not facing water crisis as of now, but in interiors the situation is really bad. It is forcing people to move and look for livelihood,” he said.

“The issue is serious…. Sales of shops are down, the business has been affected badly,” said Nasir Ansari Gulfam, a member of Beed Municipal Council. “Whether it a gift shop or a kirana shop, the situation is bad,” he said.

“In case of ailments, people are not going to doctors because of the cost of treatment involved,” said Kshirsagar.

He added  that the sale of country liquor has increased as people are avoiding IMFL or Indian made foreign liquor.

“In some villages women have to walk up to three kilometres from home to fetch water,” said a social activist.

Activists across this belt complain of the lack of work under the MNREGA – and hence it is fuelling migration.