Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 16:41:17 +0530From: Deepak Arjandas Bharwani
<saienterprises (AT) mtnl (DOT) net.in>Subject: The Hindu Business Line To fetch a pail of
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The Hindu Business Line To fetch a pail of water....htm
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publicationsFriday, May 20, 2005
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Life - Society & DevelopmentTo fetch a pail of water...
Surekha Kadapa Bose
Every day, villagers of Karjat in the Sahyadri ranges trek 3 km uphill, carrying
drinking water from the valley below. A group of young volunteers from Mumbai
are now making a difference...

The Sahyadri ranges of Karjat, 100 km from Mumbai and 750 meters above sea
level, offers Mumbaikars an escape from their concrete jungle, to be in the
hills and watch the Ulhas river meandering its way in the valley below. Karjat
has several tiny hamlets belonging to the Thakar tribals, who live in mud huts
covered by a Mangalore-tiled roof. They eke out a livelihood growing vegetables
or selling milk to the tourist town of Matheran. Each day they trek 2-3 km down
to the valley to collect drinking water in plastic pots, which they lug uphill.
Interestingly, Karjat experiences good rainfall between June and August. But
most of the rainwater drains into the valley, replenishing the Ulhas river
which feeds the townships of Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Thane and Mumbai.
Recently, however, things began looking up for the 1,200 Karjat villagers,
spread in the tiny hamlets of Burujwadi, Dhandwadi, Tepajiwadi, Chinchachimalao
and Nimbarwadi. The Rs 18-lakh Karjat Water Project, undertaken by Sri Sathya
Sai Trust Maharashtra and funded by HDFC Bank, promises to bring water to the
doorstep of the villagers. As Samir Bhatia, Country Head, HDFC Bank, unveiled a
plaque and opened a tap at Burujwadi, the villagers clapped in unison. Remarked
95-year-old Kamlubai, "With water at our doorstep we will now have time to
concentrate on our kids' studies." The project involved constructing a bund to
conserve rainwater to replenish the neighbouring well, which functions as a
permanent water source throughout the year. A submersible pump will raise water
to a storage tank (90,000 litres) built at a height of 120 metres on a hillock.
A 5-km long HDPE pipeline will supply drinking water to the seven villages. "We
have seen similar water projects implemented by Sri Sathya Sai Trust at
Kombaltekdi and Dudhani. This inspired us to fund the Burujwadi project," said
Bhatia. Service to humanity
The Rs 2.5-lakh Dudhani Water Project near Panvel supplies water to 1,200
villagers, while the Rs 6.5-lakh Kombaltekdi project supplies 1,000 people. "In
both projects we dug a borewell," said Mahesh Gokhani, a New Mumbai entrepreneur
and youth member of the trust. Members of the trust include bankers, software
professionals, engineers, doctors and students among others. In February 2004,
youth wing members who visited Burujwadi following a request by a Dudhani
villager, were appalled by the conditions there. Litesh Majithia, a HDFC Bank
employee and youth wing member, said, "When we entered the village we were
accosted by an aged woman who begged us to do something (`Kai Tari Kara
Babbano'). That really moved us." Though the steep project cost was a dampening
factor initially, the youth wing members went ahead, confident that a good
Samaritan would come along. Fortunately, a presentation made to Aditya Puri,
Mananging Director, HDFC Bank, did the trick. "Puri questioned us about the
maintenance, power bills etc., and when we told him about our experience with
the earlier projects, he decided to fund the project," said Majithia. For the
Dudhani and Kombaltekdi projects, the trust received support from employees of
Reliance Petrochemicals, which has a petrochemical unit in Panvel. In fact, the
company supplied HDPE pipes for both projects at a discount. The Burujwadi
project, however, presented a different set of challenges as the water tank had
to be built on a hillock. Except for a few highly skilled labourers that the
trust employed, it was voluntary labour all the way. The villagers and trust
members carried bricks, steel rods, cement bags, etc., up the hillock. Every
Sunday morning, for three months, many members living in places like Colaba,
Thane, Chembur, Dahisar, Malad, and Andheri travelled by bus to Karjat, three
hours away, and returned late in the evening. "What makes our projects unique
is that they belong to the villages," added Gokhani. "Each villager, from a
schoolboy to a housewife, contributes his or her labour and feels a sense of
ownership, unlike the projects undertaken by government bodies."
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