35 Women In Karnataka's Kolar Cleaned Silt From Lakes
Update: 2022-04-05 17:45 IST
35 Women In Karnataka's Kolar Cleaned Silt From Lakes (Photo/newindianexpress)
The parched Pichaguntlahalli in Kolar district was transformed by an NGO and a 35-strong staff who were majorly bulk of women. They have assured enough water for farmers to cultivate two harvests of paddy this year by clearing silt from Hosakere and Gottakere lakes in the hamlet, and their effort has also enhanced the groundwater table.
The Omittur Gram Panchayat governs the village, which is 16 kilometres from Kolar. When many labor-intensive jobs depleted during COVID, S Asha, founder-secretary of NGO 'Arohaana Grameena Abhivrudhi Samasthe,' offered to residents cleaning feeder waterways from two lakes by hand and paying them. The people were interested in the concept, which would also provide them with water.
According to Asha, four waterways were desilted in three months. Silt was cleaned for 1,200 metres in Gottakere and 2,600 metres in Hosakere. With last year's good rains in Kolar, the women's labour significantly or indirectly enhanced the lives of all 686 residents in the hamlet.
She said that they taught desilting to 35 people, 31 of them were women. They knew why the lake needed to be desilted. Earthmovers eliminated 4,950 cubic metres of soil from the feeder canals. They made sure that the soil was not thrown away and that it was put to good use in the crops.
She stated that the rising groundwater table, which improved borewell yields, also aided farmers sowing tomatoes, green chillies, and other vegetables. They were supported by the Rotary Lakeside, Kolar, and Bengaluru branches, as well as IIIT Bengaluru.
Field Coordinator Narayana Swami stated that following the second yield of paddy on their fields, owing to water from the lake, the families in and surrounding the lake will emerge self-sufficient.