Shahpur resident helps resolve water problems of a hamlet by digging borewell

When Baban Harne, 42, a resident of Changyacha Pada village of Shahpur, saw women from a nearby tribal hamlet walking two kilometres uphill with a bucket of water, he decided to take concrete steps to resolve water problems in the area; roping in a women self-help group, Harne dug a borewell at Karpatwadi pada to provide them a permanent solution for their water problems

When Baban Harne, 42, a resident of Changyacha Pada village of Shahpur, saw women from a nearby tribal hamlet walking two kilometres uphill to fill a bucket of water, he decided to take concrete steps to resolve water problems in the area.

Shahpur resident helps resolve water problems of a hamlet by digging borewell. (HT FILE PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY)

Roping in a women self-help group, Harne dug a borewell at Karpatwadi pada to provide them a permanent solution for their water problems. He also installed a water tank connected to the borewell in the same hamlet from where the villagers can fill water.

The women self-help group would maintain the water tank and also pay electricity charges used for the water pump to draw water from well to the tank. More than 60 families residing in Karpatwadi have now benefitted from this water tank and borewell, and no longer have to walk long distances to fill water.

Harne said, “After I saw those women walking with heavy buckets of water up the hill, I was moved and brought a borewell expert to check if we can dig one for the hamlet. Such initiatives need to be taken by the Zilla Parishad. Instead of waiting for them, we took help from the Karpatwadi villagers and dug a borewell within four days and spent ₹1.20 lakh on it.”

Kisan Wagh Grampanchayat members said, “We stay at the hill. To get water from the well available nearby, we had to get down and climb up with heavy buckets every day. Some of the children suffered stomach ailments due to lack of drinking water. We are not experts, therefore we didn’t know about borewell. Now that we have got one, we will take care of it by not wasting the water.”

Deputy engineer water department of ZP, Vikas Jadhav, said, “We had dug the borewell in that area but it dried out in a year. Our new water project ‘Bahuli’ will get finalised soon and Karpatwadi is included in this project. Their problem will be resolved in the next two years.”