The outcome of the effort was there for everyone to see. Thee intensive method helped restoring/rejuvenating 198 water bodies and 206 km of channels in the district entirely through NGOs, CSR, and thus saved huge amount to government exchequer. There was an increase in 15 feet of groundwater post monsoon, 2019, as reported by the Central Ground Water Authority.
This was 2020. I had retired but still was travelling throughout the country to deliver talks on a variety of subjects. On this occasion it was visit to Puducherry on an invite from Dr Kiran Bedi, Lt. Governor of the State. I spoke on my book, “Not Just A Civil Servant” to a select audience at the Raj Bhavan. Amidst this audience was an enthusiastic young Collector of Puducherry District, Dr T Arun. I later discovered his commitment as well. He invited me to see some of the work that was being done in the District in the context of rejuvenation of water bodies. What I saw on the following day was quite amazing.
The main source of water for Puducherry District is the North East/South West monsoon & Convectional rainfall in summer. The district is one of the waterstressed districts of India. The District Administration, under the guidance of the Lt Governor initiated NeerumOorum project (Water and Village City).The main objective of the Neerum-Oorum initiative was to rejuvenate the water bodies in the interest of recharging the ground water besides combating the menace of salt water intrusion and mass plantation drive to promote intensive green cover.
It encompassed the following components:
• Water conservation and rain water harvesting.
• Renovation of traditional/ water bodies.
• Reuse of water and recharging of structures.
• Water shed development.
• Intensive afforestation.
A multi-pronged strategy was put in place. As the first step, an inventory for water bodies was prepared. Revenue Officials along with Municipalities/Commune Panchayats, surveyors identified water bodies in the Revenue Records. Attempts were made to encourage voluntary discharge/evacuation from the site of encroachment by the people themselves. This exercise identification of many lost water bodies on ground due to siltation and encroachment. In one Panchayat there were initially just 27 waterbodies in the list but due to the intensive efforts 71 waterbodies were located on the ground. Such an effort enabled identification and retrieval of all the 684 waterbodies in the District.
Mass awareness campaign was launched through Self Help Groups/NSS/Social media/KrishiVigyan Kendra. Gram Sabha meetings were conducted in all Communes with the stake holders/farmers. The idea was to make the stake holders not only participate in the entire exercise but also to own this initiative and thereafter monitor the water bodies. Schools, colleges, NGOs and government departments were utilised for optimizing the benefits during the monsoons in 2019. Intensive awareness programmes were conducted involving local cable TV channels. Pamphlets were distributed and short films were shown in theatres.
The District Administration appealed to all the sectors in the region for adopting water bodies under Corporate Social Responsibility. Consequently, ponds and lakes were adopted by the NGOs, Hotels, Marriage Halls, Schools & Colleges and private sector Companies.
This initiative saw an engagement of the entire government machinery, around 800 SHGs and 235 schools. More than 60,000 volunteers were mobilized at various events relating to awareness, plantation drive, rejuvenation, water conservation, etc. More than 300 field visits were made to identify the present status of water body and also to follow up the rejuvenation activity.
The district administration also introduced the concept of numbering of water body through a unique ID. Each water body was given 8-digit unique number. This was done to remove the confusion over the names of the lakes and pond. Suitable display boards/signages were put up in the water bodies. These signages created awareness as they enabled local people to identify the earmarked area as a water body. The signage also displayed the local official contact number.
Jal Abhilekh/Neer-Padhivu Application was launched in collaboration with CSIRNational Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur. This Application is the first of its kind in India developed for digitization of all water bodies including 84 irrigation tanks. All the water bodies were geo tagged with unique ID numbers, GIS on ponds, lakes, tanks with coordinates i.e., latitudes and longitudes. This helped integrate locations of water bodies and the course of channels traversing through different revenue villages. The Application has inbuilt feature to get the status of the ground water level and increase in humid moisture content of the soil from time to time via remote sensing satellite.
As many as 198 water bodies were desilted and rejuvenated and a stretch of 206 kms of canals was also desilted under Corporate Social Responsibility. The task of the entity was not only to desilt the ponds but also to maintain it. Over a period of time, awareness to conserve reached such levels that schools and colleges, even women association, started approaching the district administration to assist in desilting and maintaining the ponds. Major temples were also engaged in this task. They were given 2 water bodies each to desilt. Thus, 52 water bodies belonging to temples were rejuvenated. A large number of NGOs participated in this mammoth exercise of rejuvenation. Further, to sustain the efforts made in the rejuvenation of ponds, committees, involving local NOGs, SHGs, were constituted at the village, block and district level.
Simultaneously, intensive afforestation was initiated. To begin with, bunds around water bodies were taken up for tree plantation. A many as 78,000 trees were planted around each and every water body desilted.
Orders were issued to all the major building, government offices and marriage halls, kalyana mandapams, cinema theatres, shopping complex to install rain water harvesting.
The outcome of this effort was there for everyone to see. This intensive method helped restoring/rejuvenating 198 water bodies and 206 kms of channels in the district entirely through NGOs, CSR, and thus saved huge amount to Government Exchequer. There was an increase in 15 feet of Ground Water post monsoon, 2019 as reported by the Central Ground Water Authority. The most important result of this initiative, however, is the mobilization of the community and different sections of the society. This helped locate many lost ponds and rejuvenating them. Many water bodies have become a tourist location for the general public and a good outing place. This initiative has prevented salt water intrusion and ensured regular supply of drinking water because of substantial rise in the ground water table. This initiative would also ensure that no encroachments of water body would be possible in future. This model can be easily replicated in other parts of the country. Hence, it presents a great example of Nexus of Good as it is a replicable effort based on publicprivate partnership.
Anil Swarup has served as the head of the Project Monitoring Group, which is currently under the Prime Minister’s Office. He has also served as Secretary, Ministry of Coal and Secretary, Ministry of School Education