Former lieutenant governor of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi, recounts how her workforce turned the UT right into a water-rich place by involving corporates in cleansing up its streams and ponds
Making Puducherry water-rich was a journey crammed with moments of agony and ecstasy. Agony at seeing canals clogged with silt, the economically weak having to purchase bottled water for cooking, ladies complaining of hair loss because of dangerous water, and working out of funds to desilt 23 feeder channels, 84 tanks and 609 ponds. After which, moments of ecstasy once we bought our first donor and have become in a position to usher in ample funds to fully desilt all our canals and ponds.
Whereas I used to be LG of Puducherry, having an open administration helped us to not simply hear the issues the individuals had been dealing with but additionally get to their root and resolve these issues. One such criticism in an open home was about water, and it was alarming to see how Puducherry was shifting in direction of full drought.
So, on World Water Day in March 2018 we resolved to make Puducherry water-rich and even coined the hashtag ‘WaterRichPuducherry’. Then started our weekend morning rounds in direction of this mission.
ineer, different public officers and members of Workforce Raj Nivas. We began visiting campuses of academic establishments and industries that had been guzzling water, and located most of them lacked water harvesting amenities. We instructed them to right away work on constructing rainwater harvesting constructions.
Then began our visits to the assorted water channels. A go to to the Sitheri channel was an eye-opener. It was fully clogged with silt and thick grass, and wanted an earth mover for cleansing up. We learnt that it could value Rs 4-5 lakh to wash up the channel however PWD officers mentioned that they had no funds. We mentioned we’d get them Rs 6 lakh, and turned again with a resolve to boost funds.
On our method again we stopped by on the Inox gasoline manufacturing facility, which was close to the water channel, and requested them if they’d undertake the channel and have it cleaned up as a part of their CSR exercise. They agreed.
Again in Raj Nivas I put out a tweet searching for help to wash up these water channels, promising to announce the names of the donors. Dr Mariazeena Johnson of Satyabhama College got here in as our first donor. Our workforce led by comptroller Asha Gupta continued to work on bringing in CSR help and shortly had sufficient funds for desilting and cleansing up all of the water channels.
We made it very clear that the donor would pay the tools operator instantly. Raj Nivas was performing as a facilitator and serving to join donors to earth mover operators. We even allowed farmers to remove the silt for farming.
The channels and ponds quickly began wanting clear and have become a part of the features and prayers the businesses organised in direction of celebrating their efforts. We determined to provide “Swachhata Hello Seva” awards to all of the donors who had supported ‘Mission Water Wealthy Puducherry’.
After the agricultural water channels, we took up the cleansing of the city canals to stop flooding within the metropolis. They had been clogged with not solely silt but additionally pillows, mattresses and items of wooden. The individuals had turn out to be callous about them.
We adopted the identical CSR mannequin and bought all of the canals cleaned up in order that when the northeast monsoon hit that yr the agricultural water channels had been brimming with water, prepared for use for irrigation, and the city canals had been capable of take away the storm water and keep away from flooding. Once I left Puducherry two years in the past, the water desk was up by 7 toes and the water channels had been brimming with water.
Making Puducherry water-rich was a journey crammed with moments of agony and ecstasy. Agony at seeing canals clogged with silt, the economically weak having to purchase bottled water for cooking, ladies complaining of hair loss because of dangerous water, and working out of funds to desilt 23 feeder channels, 84 tanks and 609 ponds. After which, moments of ecstasy once we bought our first donor and have become in a position to usher in ample funds to fully desilt all our canals and ponds.
Whereas I used to be LG of Puducherry, having an open administration helped us to not simply hear the issues the individuals had been dealing with but additionally get to their root and resolve these issues. One such criticism in an open home was about water, and it was alarming to see how Puducherry was shifting in direction of full drought.
So, on World Water Day in March 2018 we resolved to make Puducherry water-rich and even coined the hashtag ‘WaterRichPuducherry’. Then started our weekend morning rounds in direction of this mission.
ineer, different public officers and members of Workforce Raj Nivas. We began visiting campuses of academic establishments and industries that had been guzzling water, and located most of them lacked water harvesting amenities. We instructed them to right away work on constructing rainwater harvesting constructions.
Then began our visits to the assorted water channels. A go to to the Sitheri channel was an eye-opener. It was fully clogged with silt and thick grass, and wanted an earth mover for cleansing up. We learnt that it could value Rs 4-5 lakh to wash up the channel however PWD officers mentioned that they had no funds. We mentioned we’d get them Rs 6 lakh, and turned again with a resolve to boost funds.
On our method again we stopped by on the Inox gasoline manufacturing facility, which was close to the water channel, and requested them if they’d undertake the channel and have it cleaned up as a part of their CSR exercise. They agreed.
Again in Raj Nivas I put out a tweet searching for help to wash up these water channels, promising to announce the names of the donors. Dr Mariazeena Johnson of Satyabhama College got here in as our first donor. Our workforce led by comptroller Asha Gupta continued to work on bringing in CSR help and shortly had sufficient funds for desilting and cleansing up all of the water channels.
We made it very clear that the donor would pay the tools operator instantly. Raj Nivas was performing as a facilitator and serving to join donors to earth mover operators. We even allowed farmers to remove the silt for farming.
The channels and ponds quickly began wanting clear and have become a part of the features and prayers the businesses organised in direction of celebrating their efforts. We determined to provide “Swachhata Hello Seva” awards to all of the donors who had supported ‘Mission Water Wealthy Puducherry’.
After the agricultural water channels, we took up the cleansing of the city canals to stop flooding within the metropolis. They had been clogged with not solely silt but additionally pillows, mattresses and items of wooden. The individuals had turn out to be callous about them.
We adopted the identical CSR mannequin and bought all of the canals cleaned up in order that when the northeast monsoon hit that yr the agricultural water channels had been brimming with water, prepared for use for irrigation, and the city canals had been capable of take away the storm water and keep away from flooding. Once I left Puducherry two years in the past, the water desk was up by 7 toes and the water channels had been brimming with water.
