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Diamond merchant Mathurabhai Savani has helped villages in Saurashtra launch water harvesting schemes.
The initiative of one man has galvanised an entire community into taking collective action to tackle water scarcity in Gujarat. A successful diamond merchant from the Patel community, Mathurabhai Savani belongs to Khopala village in Gujarat's Bhavnagar district. The village has a population of 5,000; 16,000 bhigas of land are under cultivation. Forty years ago there was plenty of water in the village, but the indiscriminate use of wells and year-round cultivation of crops that required large amounts of water led to a depletion of groundwater. In the early-1990s, Rajsamdhiyala village in Rajkot district solved its water problem using water harvesting and conservation structures. Inspired by this, Mathurabhai forme! d a committee in 1998 to tackle the scarcity of water in his own village. Every community, even non-farming families, was given representation. The committee chalked out the best methods to harvest water. Within six months they had constructed 200 check dams and ten ponds. They also built 22 channels around the village, with 200 structures interlinking the channels. The work was all done on a voluntary basis (shramdaan). The first rainfall filled the check dams and recharged the 550 wells in the village. The groundwater level rose by 20 to 50 feet. Agricultural production increased and the village sold agricultural products worth Rs 5.44 crore in one year. Mathurabhai decided to spread the good work throughout Saurashtra. A meeting with diamond merchants in Surat, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad resulted in the formation of the Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust in November 1999. The Trust organised a 325 km padayatra thro! ugh Saurashtra, generating enthusiasm for water harvesting and re-greening. Impressed by the citizens' initiatives, the chief minister of Gujarat announced that any village that was able to raise 40 per cent of the funds required to launch a water-harvesting scheme would get the remaining 60 per cent from the government. The Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust has entered into this partnership on a large scale. The entire process is transparent; 60 per cent of the funds contributed by the government reaches the villagers directly. Water harvesting and reforestation work has been initiated in 250 villages in Saurashtra. A common cause has resulted in the narrowing of the gap between rich and poor and upper and lower castes in the villages. Contact: Saurashtra Jaldhara Trust
Mathurabhai M Savani (President)
&nbs! p; Savani Brothers, Near Balashram
Katargam Road, Surat-4
Tel: 91-261-483 315/489 756
Fax: 91-261-489 042
Email:
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