Bhopal, March 17: If Mark Twain needed endorsement for his comment “whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over”, Madhya Pradesh is giving it to him.

In several districts bordering Uttar Pradesh, thirst is fuelling conflict and police in the Chambal and Bundelkhand regions fear escalation in violence over the next three months.

Vijay Goel, 36, the son of a corporator in Shivpuri district, was charged with attempt to murder after he attacked water pump attendant Man Singh Prajapat, leaving him with multiple fractures, about a fortnight ago.

Goel wanted Prajapat to release water for his locality but the attendant refused, citing the municipal corporation’s rule to release water to each neighbourhood once in three days. That was provocation enough for Goel and his two friends to set upon the man in his fifties.

Shivpuri, 113km from Gwalior, would have seen more bloodshed yesterday when a black buck from the national park in the district strayed into Bank Colony at night in search of water. About six stray dogs cornered the deer, threatening to tear it to bits, but some residents awoke to chase them away. The traumatised animal was handed over to local forest authorities.

District forest officer Alok Kumar confirmed the incident. “We are making elaborate arrangements inside Madhav National Park, such as putting water in cemented saucers in strategic locations, but with summer catching on, man-animal, animal-animal and man-man conflicts are on the rise,” he said.

Declining to give a figure, Kumar said many black bucks, neelgai, cheetal and chinkara die when they stray into residential areas.

In nearby Datia town, a 35-year-old woman was attacked by a donkey otherwise known to be docile, sources said. As Gita scurried to safety, the donkey drank contentedly from her pitcher.

A group of over 20 monkeys raided Jaitpur village, also on the Uttar Pradesh border, but did not snatch fruits or any eatables. They just drank water and left, villagers said.

Alok Kumar said these were clear signals from the animals that “we are ignoring them”. He said violent behaviour among donkeys was abnormal and unprecedented.

Niraj Pandey, the Shivpuri rural area deputy superintendent of police, said there had been more such incidents. “We are told that a hyena attacked a child drinking water. The hyena did not harm the five-year-old boy but drank water from a pitcher lying nearby.”

When he travels to the villages as part of the “mobile thana” programme, most complaints that Pandey and his men come across are related to water disputes.

“There are too many domestic cattle who regularly stray into fields to drink water and, many a times, such disputes turn into caste conflicts,” he said.