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NGOs quench thirst of Shahpur's parched Vihigao

Two dams have been built with the aim to strengthen the village economy

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File photo of a dam —For representation purpose only
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Whether there is drought or not next year, the residents of Vihigao in Shahpur will have enough water to meet their needs. Thanks to the three NGOs of Dombivli that built two dams with a capacity to store two crore litres of water.

While a lot of housing societies and corporations are still talking about rain water harvesting, three NGOs of Dombivli have already done what they can for the residents of Vihigaon. The NGOs — Vivekanand Seva Mandal, Tilaknagar Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandal and Bharat Vikas Parishad — have built two dams in Vihigao village of Shahpur, relieving the villagers from the grasp of water tanker mafia, who provided water only for six months.

The idea was a brainchild of Ketan Bondre of Vivekanand Seva Mandal, which has been doing lots of social work in Vihigao and other areas. "There were two dams in dilapidated conditions and without proper foundation in Vihigao. We rebuild them along with the foundation and they can store two crore liters of water," said Bondre.

They also built a bund to catch pebbles and stones so that it does not go into the dams. "We realised that we will need to de-silt the dams every year to remove these stones. So, we already built this bund which will stop the stones from going into the dam," he added.

Built at a cost of Rs12 lakh, the funding was provided by Tilaknagar Ganesh Mandal and Bharat Vikas Parishad and some individual donors. It can be recollected that during last year's Ganeshotsav, Tilaknagar Mandal had appealed to people, who hosted Ganpati at homes, to contribute for drought-affected farmers. "This money collected from homes was donated by Tilaknagar Mandal," he said.

The dams which were inaugurated on June 18 at the hands of Thane district collector Dr Mahendra Kalyankar is aimed to strengthen the village's economy. During rains, the villagers will cultivate rice and the land would remain unutilised for the rest of the year. "So, we will teach them how to cultivate cash crops like vegetables which they can sell in the neighbouring areas and make a living," says Bondre.

The mandal also want to introduce sweet water fish farming next year to further make the villagers economically self sufficient.

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