"The girls and their parents refuse to marry youths in the village due to non-availability of permanent drinking water facility in the village," Sarpanch Manhar Patel said.

Parents refuse to marry their daughter to the youths in the village as girls will have to walk several kilometers daily to fetch drinking water, Patel said.

"More than 100 youths who have crossed the age of marriage are still bachelors in this village," Patel said, adding that many bachelors have crossed the age of 40 and are still searching for brides.

Khanpur is one of the 38 village of the parched Bhal region of the Anand district, where the underground water is undrinkable due to salinity ingress and minimal fresh water sources.

Sajan B, said that three of her sons have crossed the age of 40 and all are bachelors as girls are not prepared to marry them after learning of acute shortage of drinking water in the village.