Latur
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Latur, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Town in the Owsa taluk of Osmanabad District, Hyderabad
State, situated in 18° 25' N. and 76° 35' E. Population (1901), 10,479.
Latur is a great centre of the cotton and grain trade in communication
with Barsi railway station, 64 miles distant. It has three ginning
factories, a British sub-post office, and a State post office, as well as a
vernacular school and a travellers' bungalow.
Availability of water
2016: From severe drought to plenty
Syed Rizwanullah, Parched Latur now has enough water for 5 yrs, Sep 28 2016 : The Times of India
The water train chugging into Latur to meet the city's drinking water requirement is unlikely to recur at least in the next five years, said officials.
Unprecedented heavy showers that lashed Marathwada over the past few days have helped increase water levels in all resources, including the Manjara dam, which is considered the lifeline for Latur.
The Manjara dam, which has a storage capacity of 9,000 million cubic feet, was in dead storage since 2012 till a few weeks ago. With the dam filled up to 97% of its capacity , officials have started discharging water from it.Though the rains receded on Monday , water from the catchment areas continued to flow into the dam, which is situated about 80 km from .
Latur's daily water requirement stands at 60 million litres, and considering the consecutive years of drought, the government had started supplying water to the city through a train from Miraj in Sangli district. The severe drought had brought industries to a grinding halt and severely affected trade and business in the city .
“Manjra dam is now filled up to 100% of its storage capacity . Lower Terna, another major dam, is also almost full ... and the storage we presently have, is enough to last for about five years,“ said Mohammed Sarfaraz , a senior geologist at the ground water survey and development agency in Latur. He added that the groundwater table, which had dropped by 3.5 metres, had made a significant recovery and was rising constantly .
Latur district disaster management officer Saqueb Osmani said the problem of drinking water supply for Latur and its nearby areas would be closed chapter at least for now. “The Manjra dam and other barrages supplying water to Latur are filled to capacity ,“ he said.
A number of NGOs had rushed to Latur to imple ment different schemes to desilt, deepen and widen the water bodies that had run dry across the district.
Latur district collector Pandurang Pole said that after the drought, most farmers had shifted from sugarcane to other crops. But due to good rains, some might think of growing sugarcane.
Interestingly, Latur's civic body cannot immediately fetch water from its pumping station at Manjara dam. The 800 kv transformer installed by it was recently stolen from the dam's vicinity. A tender has been floated by the civic body for a new transformer.
