Hyderabad: Setting an example to the rest of the state, a small village in Mahbubnagar district has constructed water harvesting pits in all of its houses in a week.
The initiative was taken by woman sarpanch S. Vasanthamma of Sangala in Gadwal mandal, who used a combination of persuasion and threats to get the job done.
The sarpanch approached revenue officials in February to create awareness in the village to build water harvesting pits.
She visited every house and asked the residents to build the structures to recharge ground water. The village had faced a severe water problem for four years.
When there was no result, she directed the fair price shop to stop selling commodities to those who did not build the water harvesting pits.
Speaking to this newspaper, Ms Vasanthamma said, “I asked panchayat raj officials to sanction works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employ-ment Guarantee Scheme to villagers to build the water harvesting pits. The ration shop dealer stopped releasing commodities. This led to 320 households building the pits within a week. The other 30 households and government offices have had them for years.”
She added, “We hope that these pits will recharge groundwater and we will not face any scarcity,”
She said her next aim was to make Sangala an open-defecation free village.
