Mumbai, May 22 (IANS): The Congress on Wednesday urged the ruling MahaYuti government in Maharashtra to pay attention to the problems of severe water shortages, agricultural woes, and farmers’ plight now that the Lok Sabha elections are over in the state.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that large parts of the state are grappling with severe water shortage for drinking, livestock, and agriculture purposes.

“Most dams and reservoirs are virtually running empty with little or no water, people in thousands of villages and hamlets have no drinking water. There is no water for farm animals and agriculture,” Patole claimed.

Under the grim scenario and with monsoon at least another fortnight away, he called upon the state government to make drinking water arrangements in every water scarcity region, fodder for the animals and farming purposes.

Elaborating further, Patole said that people in the state, especially the rural women, are facing great hardships to get bare minimum drinking water, their animals have no fodder and water, which in turn is hitting milk production.

“Many cities and towns are getting water once in 10-12 days, at least 23 districts are experiencing severe water crises and the situation is serious in Marathwada. We had warned in January that the state would be facing water problems, but the MahaYuti allies were busy with infighting and preparing for the elections,” claimed Patole.

Now that the elections are over, the government must pay attention to the people's woes and take immediate steps to resolve the water-fodder crisis, start fodder camps, and deploy tankers to rush water to the critical regions, he urged.

Patole also said that if needed, the government should relax the model of conduct and take a decision on these issues on top priority.