For seventy families struggling with water scarcity in Biwalwadi village, Kasara Ghat, Shahpur Taluka, help from a Kalyan-based resident group came as a major relief.
The villagers used to travel long distances in search of water on a daily basis. The group, Mi Kalyankar, made provision for regular tankers to be sent to these villagers.
“Every year, there is a water shortage during summer as the well goes dry. There is only one well for 70 families in the village. When the group approached us, we explained our ordeal. Now they are sending three water tankers daily and filling the well. We now have sufficient water,” said Rajendra Fodase, a 30-year-old resident of the village.
The organisation did a survey in two villages namely Biwalwadi and Dand, learnt about the problems faced by the villagers and decided to send water tankers.
“The women from our village are forced to walk 1-2km with utensils in search of water and get one utensil full of water for the day. It is that bad here every year,” added Fodase.
Mi Kalyankar took the issue to social media and asked for help from people across Kalyan. In future, the NGO plans to come up with a permanent solution for the water crisis in these villages through rain water harvesting or other possible measures.
“We have now decided to supply water to these villages till June 10. However, there is a need to have a permanent solution to this. We will come up with a solution through inputs from experts. One such solution would be rain water harvesting. At the same time, we will also communicate with the stakeholders to supply water in these villages,” said Nitin Nikam, founder of Mi Kalyankar.
An accountant of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and a resident of Kalyan, Ravindra Kale, made the provision for three water tankers for the village, while several others are coming forward.
“I came to know about the shortage through the organisation and decided to help the villagers. I paid for the tankers and made sure they have water in the well,” said Kale.
