NBWS ISSUED AGAINST 3 N’PADA FOREST STAFF

NUAPADA VILLAGERS CREATE SELF-STYLED IRRIGATION

The Pioneer. Monday, 20 May 201 3 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA

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Budhuram Paharia is a tribal of Bhainsadani village in Nuapada district. He has two acres of land. This year, he has produced about 30 quintals of paddy from the two acres. “But it was not so before a year ago,” says Budhuram. “I was waiting for the arrival of the rain for tilling my land to sow seed. If the rain arrived late or there was a dry spell during the season, the crop used to fail. Usually, I was getting less than eight quintals in total previously,” he adds. 

The situation in Bhainsadani village changed after the water of a nearby stream was diverted to the village through PVC pipes. Entire two acres of land of Budhuram now get irrigated. As second crop apart from paddy, Budhuram cultivates vegetables which meet the nutritional requirements of the family. “My 18-year-old daughter migrated to Hyderabad last year, but this year she would not,” says Budhuram. There are 80 such families in the village Bhainsadani, who have benefited from this diversion of water of the stream. The work has been done through collective effort of the villagers.

Irrigation was not the only problem for the villagers, which was making the people desperate. “You would not get a drop of water within 4 km during summer. We have to walk for more than 4 km to the Rani Jhola (stream) to fetch drinking water,” says Subhadra.

Bhainsadani village is located at a distance of 12 km from the block headquarters Boden and about 100 km from the district headquarters of Nuapada. The village has four tube wells, two open wells, five tanks and four water harvesting structures (WHS), but all these sources dry up after January. The Government spent crores of rupees in past three decades in the village for generating water sources but all attempts have failed. The village faced crop loss every year. One of the open wells located below a WHS is used up to January as a source of drinking water. But as soon as the WHS dries, the open well also dries. 'Rani Jhola' which means, the queen of the gullies of the hill is then the only source of drinking water for the villages for 5 months.

"We had been demanding the diversion of the water through pipes. But no one listened to us," says Budhuram. The administration, to address the drinking water need of the people sent water tankers from Boden, but did not think about using pipes. Anyhow, the tanker brought temporary relief. The issue was even raised by the Khariar MLA Hitesh Bagartti. "I had sanctioned Rs 14 lakh for the construction of a pipe water supply project. But the administration was not taking any step," said the MLA.

"No one is interested to work in Maoist-affected Panchayats," said the Executive Engineer of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation department. "Why the Maoists will oppose good work?" asks Hiralal Majhi, Samiti Member of Bhainsadani Gram Panchayat. 

Two NGOs - Vikash and Nabpallav have proved the words of Hiralal true. In consultation with the people, these NGOs chalked out a plan and requested the SD Tata Trust for financial support, which the trust happily agreed. PVC pipes and other materials were procured. It also helped the people for exposure visit and training. The labour work for digging the 3 km trench for laying pipes was done free of cost by the people. The project was completed within 3 months. As a result of this effort, the people have now access to irrigation for 166 acres during Kharif and 20 acres during Rabi seasons. Production of paddy has suddenly increased from 7-8 quintals per acre to more than 15 quintals. Drinking water was also made available for all the households. There are 20 water posts for supplying drinking water. Livelihood options in the farm sector have diversified. One small outlet of the pipe is feeding 24 hours water to one of the WHS and the WHS is having water all over the year now a days. The well below the WHS is having water during summer which was drying previously. There is also water supply for the schools, hostels and the Panchayat office in the village.

The Palli Sabha of Bhainsadani village has prepared a plan for construction of household latrines for every household under MGNREGS after the regular water supply was assured. The proposal has been approved by the Gram Sabha and sent to the district. The work in Bhainsadani village is totally a new concept in the area. No one believed in the village that the water will be diverted through a pipe without the use of a motor pump. Thus it created much interest within the local people. "We have identified more than 20 sites in the district where such diversion based irrigation (DBI) project can be constructed. But, ourNGOs have fund constraint. The Government can take this challenge" says Ramesh Gumansing of Nabpallav.