:
http://sathya-sai0.tripod.com/Mumbai/pipe-dreams.htm
Pipe Dreams Come
True
- J V RGopal
Doodhani village,
on the foothills of Matheran near Panvel, now has access to piped
drinking water, thanks to a unique joint venture the villagers
undertook.
A piped drinking
water project was inaugurated at Dodhani village, 21 kms from
Panvel, by justice Karpu Sivanayagam on November 24. For the 1,200 adivasi inhabitants of Dodhani and the youth wing of the Sathya Sai
Seva Samithi, the project (i was the culmination of a unique effort.
The Samithi provided the material and expertise for the Rs 2.5 lakh
project, while the villagers provided the labour.
As a result of the
project, drinking water can now be brought to the doorsteps of the
villagers. They will no longer have to crowd near the hand pumps.
"Earlier, due to the hilly terrain, there was physical strain, as
people had to trek up and down to collect water," informed Babu lyer,
convener of the project, who runs the New Panvel chapter of the Samithi. Children of the village often had to miss school in order
to help their families fill water. The project has solved all these
problems.
The novel project
consisted of digging an underground water tank of 32,000 Its
capacity on the 330 ft hillock. The depth of the tank was 12 ft. A
bore well was also dug at ground level. The uptake pipelines were
lined from the bore well to the water tank for filling water in the
tank. Similarly down-take pipelines from the tank to different parts
of the village were laid. This led to water distribution for the
entire village at 10 different community points, with each point
having four to six taps, explained Iyer. In all 600 ft of pipe was
used for the uptake and 2500 ft for down-take network.
Earlier the
community volunteers had conducted a survey of about 30 villages in
and around the New Panvel-Matheran road. The survey had revealed
that the adivasi village lacked basic medical facilities and
drinking water. This was when the Samithi decided to adopt Dodhani
village.
Most of the men
from the village undertake an arduous hour long daily morning trek
to reach Matheran, where they work as masons and hotel workers,
reveals a volunteer. At night the men trek back the same distance to
the village. Although the villagers had such a tiring dialing
schedule, they still volunteered to undertake digging work on the
solid hill rock. “We took up the challenges for the betterment of
the village’” said Shankar, a villager and active volunteer.
Sourced from new
Bombay plus - Dated Saturday, November 30th, 2002
