A
novel scheme has saved two hilly villages from
drought-like situation. These two village namely
Biharwara and Meherkhuwa are situated at Kishangarh's
hilly area in drought-affected Chhatarpur district.
Public Health Engineering Department is supplying
water to these two villages from a brook. Since
electricity is not available in the area, pumping sets
are being run by diesel generators.
Residents
of Biharwara and Meherkhuwa villages were facing acute
crisis of drinking water as all the hand pumps had
dried up. Digging of a tubewell was also unlikely to
be of any use, since both the villages are situated on
a hill, Under these circumstances, villagers had to
descend 80 metres down to the valley to collect water
from a brook. This was indeed an uphill task.
But
luck smiled on residents of these villages as Public
Health Engineering Department came to their rescue.
The department chalked out a novel scheme. Its staff
constructed a sump tank where the water from the
natural brook for collected, disinfected and then
supplied to the villages. A 2200 metre long pipeline
was laid from the sump tank up to both the villages.
One small water tank was also constructed in each
village to collect water from the pumping sets and
then distribute the same to the villagers. Since power
supply is not available in this remote area, the
department has set up a diesel generator for pumping
water. The P.H.E. Department has approved a scheme
estimated to cost Rs 24 lakh 50 thousand for this
purpose. Under the scheme, potable water would be
supplied to these villages after laying a 2.25
kilometre pipeline up to the villages and constructing
a cistern for supplying water.
An
overhead tank of 50 thousand litre capacity is also to
be constructed so that villagers can get water with
high pressure. A stop dam is also proposed to be built
near the brook to ensure availability of water for a
longer period. Construction of stop dam has begun
while construction of overhead tank is going to start
soon. Indeed, P.H.E Department's novel scheme has
proved to be boon for the residents of these
perennially problem-ridden villages.
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