Story of Change

Water provided in Datia villages reeling under drought

Hamirpur is a small village in Dgrai Panchayat of Datia district. The delimitation process before the Urban Local Body election shifted the village to Datia town and the reversal took place again when the delimitation was undertaken for rural bodies. Consequently none of the local body felt ownership and responsibility for the village. The piped water supply scheme in the village was lying defunct as the 44 feet long pipe was broken. Samarthan initiated campaign to improve access to water in the severe drought in the region in last summer in April to June -2016. The village was identified as severely water deficient , however the water bore for the piped water supply was checked and found to be able to generate water. Therefore repair of the pipeline could have done the needful. The Panchayat and community was mobilised to lodge a complaint with PHED to repair the pipeline, from the funds of Bundelkhand Package. However the inertia in the department continued, and there was little response from the department. The response of the department forced the Panchayat to meet the member of the legislative assembly (MLA) for the region. He also exerted the pressure on the department. The department yielded against the pressure of the MLA and released the funds for new pipeline while labour contribution for laying the pipes was provided by the community. The piped water supply was repaired and water was made available to the VILLAGE. 11 such piped water supply scheme were repaird in the district of Datia in the month of May 2016 under the campaign and nearly 100000 households benefitted from the water that was made available consequently