RE: SBOI - Post Fwd: The Hindu Business Line To fetch a pail of water....htm

[Guest guest]

Dear Sairam,

 

Very Inspiring. You can see the happiness of swami within yourself when you read this.

 

Great !!!!

 

 

Umamaheshwar

 

[]On Behalf Of SBOI-webmasterSent:

20/05/2005 2:07 PMSaiBabaOfIndiaGroupSBOI - Post Fwd: The Hindu

Business Line To fetch a pail of water....htm

Deepak Arjandas Bharwani <saienterprises (AT) mtnl (DOT) net.in> wrote: Wed, 18 May

2005 16:41:17 +0530Deepak Arjandas Bharwani

<saienterprises (AT) mtnl (DOT) net.in>The Hindu Business Line To fetch a pail of

water....htmSBOI Group

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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