Tribal homes get tap water
Rotary Club of Mumbai Kandivli West, RID 3141, has helped each one of the 183 households in the tribal village Chhotyachi Wadi, 120km from Mumbai, in Palghar district, get water at their homes through its rural development project.
The club undertook this community service last year under the leadership of its then president Rakesh Shah. When the Rotarians visited the village then, “it was sad to see the villagers bringing water in pots from a private well, fed by a natural spring, about 1.5km away. The water was available only during Jun-July and Feb-March. During the other months they would trudge farther to collect water,” said Shah. So the club made plans to deepen the well by 10 feet to increase the water storage, recharged the spring by identifying aquifers feeding it and also explored possibilities of more connecting springs. A 10,000-litre storage tank was constructed, a pump and motor were installed to draw water from the well, pipes were laid and taps were provided at each home as part of the project. As power supply is irregular in the region, solar panels were installed to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the water pump.
The villagers are small-time farmers. Now they have sufficient water for consumption and farming, he said.
The project, costing ₹20 lakh, was funded with help from three corporates — Eisneramper (India) Consultants (₹12.5 lakh); Overseas Polymer (₹2 lakh) and Securities Investment Management (₹1.2 lakh), along with club members, who raised ₹3.87 lakh.
To benefit over 500 people, the work was completed in October and IPDG Sandip Agarwalla inaugurated it. This year, under the leadership of president Prithika Samane, a fundraiser fetched a whopping ₹1.4 crore to support various service projects. “We will add another ₹40 lakh in the next couple of months,” said Prithika.
The club plans to provide a CT scanner (₹1.2 crore) to the Kandivli Hitwardhak Mandal Hospital with the support of IPCA Laboratories. A spoken English and personality development programme to benefit 600 students studying in vernacular medium schools are also on the cards. BNI India will be supporting this
₹6 lakh project. A mega cleaning drive was executed at the Juhu beach with the participation of the club members and staff of the US-based corporate Eisneramper (India) Consultants.
