Leaky bund punches holes in drought management claims

That assurances and assertions of authorities regarding steps taken to mitigate the perennial problem of water scarcity in the state are full of holes become apparent after one look at the Kalshetipada bund Constructed in 20022003 to provide water to surrounding areas the dam has not fulfilled its purpose The structure has developed leaks at several places making this a waste of a project Creaked up The water that is wasted through leakages in the Kalshetipada bund flows through smaller bunds and then gets accumulated in the fields Villagers use this dirty water for bathing washing and drinkingu00a0PIC Shadab Khan Kalshetipada village is located approximately 30 kilometres from Dolara village and about 130 kilometres from Mumbai The bund in question as per official records was constructed in 20022003 on 150 hectares of land and was meant to store 212863 cubic metres of water which should have eased the scarcity being faced by 20 to 25 nearby villages Chinks in the armour MiD DAY along with social activist and director of Jawharrsquos Urban Cooperative Bank Ravindra Shivade visited the bund and found that hundreds of cubic metres of water were being wasted daily due to the leakages ldquoThe condition of the bund clearly shows that no repairs have been carried out for years The water that is wasted through leakages flows through smaller bunds and then gets accumulated in the fields Villagers use this dirty water for bathing washing and even drinking This is a waste of public moneyrdquo said Shivade When MiD DAY visited the place on Tuesday afternoon there was no government worker at the spot Moreover the machine room from where the gate of the bund is opened to release water had a rusty lock on it which had not been opened for months Only a few cubic metres of water was stored in the catchments part of the bund Bitter harvest When we asked HP Konde of nearby Saturli village the reason for not utilising the water for farming he stated that the wasted water from the bund gets collected in two or three small pockets and the remaining stretch of farmland remains dry Hence no cultivation can be done ldquoThe biggest problem is that various government departments like water irrigation public works and tribal welfare have their presence in these rural areas but unfortunately there is no coordination or understanding between them They all work independently Moreover there have to be regular checks and repairs of these bunds but nothing happens at the ground level I have been told that there is no separate provision for maintenance of smaller bundsrdquo Vasai MLA and chief of Shramjivi Sanghatana Vivek Pandit said Root of the problem Citing an example Pandit said on Wednesday he visited Kastewadi village in Jawhar taluka where a new bund was being constructed He was shocked to find that there was no supervisory authority including the contractor to monitor the work Also the bund was being constructed without laying any foundation for it ldquoThis is clearly a shoddy job I have details of the contractor and will bring the matter before the appropriate authority for actionrdquo he said Speaking to MiD DAY state tribal development minister Rajendra Gavit said ldquoBunds constructed need to be maintained and repaired properly at regular intervals If this has not been happening the water which needs to be stored for the period when therersquos no monsoon will be wasted This shows that there is lack of synchronisation between various agencies operating in the rural areas and everything needs to be streamlined taking appropriate action against those officials who have failed to deliverrdquou00a0 u00a0u00a0