By: Durgashri Sardeshpande Old Goa: Over the past three years, the villagers of Curti-Khandlepar Panchayat United to bring back a lifetime of five community pools, choking to waste and mud.
Mostly, if the work needed is small, the local population does not even bother waiting for government funds to be approved.
Now, the perseverance of villagers has inspired the government scheme, which will help such efforts by locals throughout the village in the state.
The work in Ponda Village began at first by the Bahati Curti-Khandlepar (BMC) management committee.
Five pools that have been revived previously used for irrigation by the community, but gradually ignoring it had pushed them to the verge of choking to non-existence.
“At present, locals have cleaned the pool community in Keri, Panchme, Kelbai, Coppertad and Curti,” Gurudas Khedekar, Sarpanch of the Panchayat.
After tasting success with the resurrection of five water bodies so far, local residents have begun working in four to five ponds.
Local residents work on the principle of the minimum number, maximum work ‘, which means that if small work is needed to turn on the pool, the villagers start with work without waiting for state funds.
In terms of big work, the funds are allocated by the government’s wetland authority.
“In this year, three projects have been completed under the initiative ‘Shram Shakti SE Jal Samruddhi’ (SSJS), and at present, 10-12 proposals are in line for approval, where nod has been given to three.
Look at the response and spirit of Goans, We have moved files to prepare schemes, “said Minister of Environment Nilesh Cabral.
In February last year, Chairman of the Minister of Pramod Sawant, showed that Goa is currently facing a lack of 76 months of drinking water, launching the SSJS program.
Schemes that will soon be aimed at encouraging local communities to protect their own ecosystems.
The program was inspired by the model used by Harshada Kerkar artists and his niece Sharada Kerkar in Saligao to clean dirty ponds with the help of locals and were stranded, with the aim of getting buffalo back to their resting place.
“We liked the idea and decided to start a program similar to the trial,” a senior official from the Country Biodiversity Council to Ti.
“The idea behind this program is to preserve, revive and restore the water body.
The beauty of this program is that less money is involved, and the impact is very large.
Here, people wear their efforts.
We provide technical assistance and the minimum amount To hire vehicles, and to buy the necessary machines and drinks.
“The country flows a maximum RS 50,000 per pool to the community for the work.
“These projects cannot succeed unless there is a sense of ownership through contributions at the ground.
Then the community becomes stakeholders and will preserve the water body they do in hard work,” the official said.