Monsoon interrupts Bundelkhand’s chronic drought 8 Photos . Updated: 21 Jul 2016, 05:10 PM IST Livemint After facing frequent droughts for a decade, Bundelkhand has much to rejoice as monsoon showers arrive on time and greenery returns to the region 1/8Farmers in Tiliya village in Jalaun district, Uttar Pradesh, working on a field of freshly sown sesame. The farmers in the village have also sown seeds of Arhar (pigeon pea), Urad (black gram) after nearly three years since rains were scant since 2013. Photographs by Priyanka Parashar/Mint 2/8Work in progress at Harpura irrigation and river-lake link project, launched in Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh in 2012. 3/8Handpumps which were running dry because of deficient rainfall in the last two years are finally able to draw groundwater in Tikamgarh district of Bundelkhand. Villages in the district faced a major drinking water crisis before the arrival of monsoon this year. 4/8Tiliya village in Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh had not received adequate rainfall for five years until the arrival of monsoon in June this year. The main source of drinking water for the villagers was the Pahuj river as the village wells dried up during the drought. 5/8Village ponds and irrigation reservoirs are full of water after normal to above normal rainfall in the region this year. Many farmers have begun fishing in Lalitpur district in Uttar Pradesh in Bundelkhand. 6/8Cattle grazed on green pastures in Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh. Stray cattle and carcasses of starved cattle in dried up lakes were a common sight in Bundelkhand in the drought period before the monsoon arrival. 7/8A community kitchen started by Jalaun-based non-profit Parmarth provides food especially for elderly people in Kodiya village in Tikamgarh district as part of drought relief efforts. 8/8After three years the pond in Bangaon village, Madhya Pradesh, is brimming with water. The Buddh Sagar pond is the primary source of irrigation in the village leaving the farmers to struggle as the pond remained dry in the past few years.