Rajkot: Developing pockets of dense greenery all around, checked.
Systems for ground-water recharging and rain-water harvesting, checked.
Strict rules in place to curb pollution, checked.
Sewage treatment plant (STP) and reusing wastewater mechanism, checked.
The green model adopted by a village located just around 11 kms Bhuj, the headquarter of Kutch district, can give modern town-planners from around the world a run for their money.
The Kukma village has become a perfect example of coexistence with nature.
The green revolution at Kukma was achieved thanks to the community initiative of the population of around 10,000.
The gram panchayat too played the perfect role as catalyst to bring about the green change.
The villagers have planted 60,000 trees in the last four years.
Village sarpanch Kankuben Vankar boasts about how several pockets of dense trees — Krishna baug, Buddha Upvan, Gamadiyo Dungar, Datapur Dungar and Bordi Dungar — have been developed since 2017.
One of the green pockets was developed using the Japanese Miyawaki method.
The village has a sewage treatment plant (STP) with the capacity of 10 MLD.
The treated water from STP is used to irrigate the five acre land on which tree plantation has been done.
Kukma has also set an example in water conservation.
Students from nearby colleges conduct surveys and come with plans on saving groundwater.
There are ten ponds in the village out of which the dredging and deepening work of five has been completed.
Also, 25 bore wells have been recharged using the water harvesting method.
“Our ponds are full throughout the year.
We don’t face water scarcity even in the summer.
We believe in zero pollution and anyone littering plastic waste near water bodies gets a warning.
A repeat offender is fined Rs 100.
Every month the water bodies are cleaned on the day of Amavas,” sarpanch Vankar said.
Technology is used to keep surveillance on the violators with 25 CCTV cameras installed at the village.
An artificial tank has also been constructed beside a water body for the immersion of idols during religious festivals.
The village has come up with a unique plastic waste collection plan.
The panchayat gives grains in exchange for plastic garbage collected by the villagers.
The panchayat has signed a contract with a private company which purchases the plastic waste.
“Our aim is to make Kukma completely plastic free.
However, it’s not possible looking at the wide use of plastic so we request villagers to be careful about not polluting the surroundings with plastic waste.
We have also distributed cloth bags to discourage use of plastic bags.” Vankar added.