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Water and Sanitation | 24x7 water for this honest village -Animesh Bisoee

24x7 water for this honest village -Animesh Bisoee

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published Published on May 21, 2017   modified Modified on May 21, 2017
-The Telegraph

Jamshedpur: As water scarcity forces many urban residents to rely on tanker dole, a village around 35km southeast of Jamshedpur enjoys piped drinking water 24/7 thanks mainly to self-help.

All 1,617 residents of over 300 households of Durku village in Kuldiha panchayat, Potka block, get safe tap water to drink.

The reason behind it is surprising. Swajaldhara, a UPA-I drinking water scheme based on self-financing, which largely failed in the country as rural masses showed scant interest in maintaining bore wells and pipes, has become a rare success in Durku.

"The Swajaldhara scheme was executed by Jamshedpur drinking water and sanitation department in 2012-13 at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh in our village. It comprised pipelines connected to each tap, a submersible boring pump and two tanks of nearly 13,000 litres capacity each," village mukhiya Lakhi Charan Singh said. "It was introduced in other villages too but only we are going strong," he added with pride.

Why is that? Singh had a simple reply. "We honestly collect funds to maintain infrastructure, we spend money only on regular repairs and maintenance, we show our accounts to everyone," he said.

Each of the over 300 households in the agrarian revenue village comprising two tolas (hamlets) Durku and Bondih contributes Rs 30 every month or Re 1 per day, whichever is more convenient, to an eight-member village drinking water committee led by resident Shivcharan Gope.

"I think this is everyone's success," said village drinking water committee president Shivcharan Gope. "Under Swajaldhara, the water supply scheme was launched in 2013. The eight-member village drinking water committee convinced people not waste this precious resource. There is a tap outside every third house, which means about 100 taps. Neighbours keep watch on whether water is being wasted or used for any other purpose than drinking. Plus, cementing the place around taps is banned. Surplus water goes inside an outlet into the ground to recharge groundwater," Gope said.

This honesty extends in other ways too. Despite the 24/7 drinking water supply, it has become ingrained in villagers not to use this treated resource for bathing or washing clothes. For these, villagers go to wells or any of the three ponds despite low water levels or to the Subernarekha around 2km away.

"Villagers have successfully kept Swajaldhara (a national-level rural water supply scheme) going for five years with effective community participation. Not only do they ensure operation and maintenance of the scheme but also see to it that water is recharged in every household," said deputy collector in chief minister's camp office in Jamshedpur Sanjay Kumar who visited the village earlier this week. "We want other villages facing water scarcity to replicate the model," he said.

The village has been included in the weekly water bulletin published by district administration.

"We regularly host kirtans and cultural programmes in our village where we tell people the importance of saving water and recharging groundwater for the sake of our existence and for our future generations," Gope said. "I think Durku has grasped the enormity of the problem and taking the right steps to combat it," he added.
 
 
The Telegraph, 21 May, 2017, please click here to read more. 

The Telegraph, 21 May, 2017, https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170521/jsp/frontpage/story_152722.jsp


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