Quenching The Thirst
It was almost as if nature was against the people. The rains last year were scanty and the sun was merciless and many districts in western Rajasthan, northern Gujarat and Saurashtra faced a calamitous future. There was a severe shortage of water for consumption and successive years of poor rainfall had resulted in poor growth of grass, leaving life-sustaining livestock in these rural communities almost on the verge of starvation. It was at such a time that CARE TODAY started the "Fight the Drought" programme. Not only was water distributed as an immediate relief measure but the society also designed other projects with the objective of strengthening water-conservation infrastructure that would simultaneously provide employment to a harassed people. To ensure transparency, all project work was undertaken through village-level committees set up by the affected communities.
Readers contributed Rs 29,33,312 (including interest of Rs 15,930)) to the fund. A sum of Rs 19,93, 095 has already been disbursed, and a further Rs 2,25,000 have been approved for utilisation. Administrative costs totalled Rs 83,500. The remaining amount of about Rs 5.5 lakh will be spent this year on similar drought-proofing projects. We have tentatively set aside some funds for a water project in Udaipur district of Rajasthan.
PROJECT:
CARE TODAY gave Rs 3 lakh to the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (Gujarat)
for the construction of two percolation tanks at Sokhda village in Surendranagar
district in November 2000.
STATUS: Work on both the tanks has been completed (picture at left). They cost Rs 2.25 lakh and 1,514 mandays of employment were generated. The unutilised fund will be used in other projects.
:IMPACT The percolation tanks will enable rainfall to recharge ground water stocks. As a result, four handpumps and four wells should have water available throughout the year, a big boon for the 238 households in the village.
PROJECT:
Construction of two checkdams in Vyar village in Gujarat's Kutch district
in July 2000 in collaboration with the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghathan (KMVS).
Rs 1.06 lakh was granted for the work.
STATUS: KMVS built three checkdams (right) along the drainage line. Employment worth Rs 57,850 was generated. The surplus of Rs 8,399 was handed to the community for maintenance of the structures.
IMPACT: Besides regenerating 20 hectares of pastureland, providing water and recharging wells, the project has inspired the state Government and UNDP to replicate the process adopted in all drought-hit villages in the district.
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