INDIAN police warned today that armed bandits were threatening villagers with death unless they deliver shipments of water to drought-hit northern Indian hideouts each day.

So far, 28 villages have obeyed the orders, taking turns to deliver what the bandits are calling a “water tax.”

“Water itself is very scarce in this region. Villagers can hardly meet their demand,” said police spokesman Suresh Kumar Singh said in Banda, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.

Though the number of bandits has declined drastically in recent decades, India’s 800-year bandit tradition has continued in the hard-to-reach Bundelkhand region.

Since 2007, it has been starved of rain, with the monsoon bringing only half the usual number of rainy days a year.

India has set a reward for information leading to the gang leader’s arrest on charges of murder, looting and kidnapping.