Water from Dust - The Karjat Water Project

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Water from Dust - The Karjat Water Project

The women came out with the flowers in their hair and Shah Rukh would’ve had

competition if he were there the day it happened

Aritra Bhattacharya

Mumbai, April 24: For years, the villagers of Burujwadi trekked up a hill to

return with pots of water on their heads as the searing heat scalded their feet

and the dust filtered their vision. On the foothills of Matheran, around 90 km

from Mumbai, these villagers never believed the routine could change.

‘‘Ek baar pani laane mein do ghante to lag hi jaate the (One trip to get water

would take us at least two hours),’’ says Nanda Pirkar, a villager. Children

ogling swank cars kicking up dust trails, people living in extreme penury,

making Rs 20 to Rs 25 a day: You can’t escape the similarities with Chandipur

in Swades. And true to the script, Burujwadi’s residents along with six other

adjoining villages outwitted the odds and brought water to their doorsteps with

a water harvesting facility they built themselves. ‘‘Tankers were alloted to

supply daily water to our villages in April and May—they actually turned up

only twice or thrice a week,’’ says Hari Yurupirkar, another Burujwadi local.

So while Shah Rukh Khan played facilitator in Swades, the Satya Sai Baba Trust

in Mumbai replaced him in real life, inaugurating the harvesting apparatus on

April 18, with funding from HDFC Bank. Yurupirkar’s fellow villagers worked

eight long months, even making the bricks in the local kiln. The pay-off has

been the sweet taste of running water—the project brings water to 1,200

villagers across seven villages. The project essentially comprises a 17-ft-high

bund that holds back rain water, a pump to carry the water to a 90,000-litre

tank on a hilltop and 13 distribution points with three taps each.

Incidentally, it was the villagers who first approached the Sai Baba Trust in

neighbouring Dodani Village, where it runs a primary school. Back at the

inauguration, the locals didn’t turn up and the corporate guests wondered where

they were. Where were they on the big day? Getting dressed for the occassion.

When they emerged, the women had flowers on their heads and the children went

straight for the water. Underlining the festivities though, was irony. The

Morbi dam, built on land emptied of villagers and under construction for over

10 years now, will actually supply water to the urban sprawl of Navi Mumbai.

‘‘The government hasn’t even paid us for the land it has taken away to

construct the dam,’’ says Vishu Kewari, sarpanch of Burujwadi. For now, though,

Burujwadi has built itself the opportunity to dream. ‘‘We can probably start a

broom-making business now,’’ says Kamal Bhasma, Ambewadi’s lady sarpanch of the

womenfolk, as she looks appreciatively at the water gushing out of the taps.

sourced:

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=126199

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