Team News Riveting
Madhya Pradesh’s Angrotha village in Chhatarpur district has been witnessing a severe water crisis despite government efforts and spending a huge money to revive the water bodies.
The 19-year-old Babita Rajput took the initiative to address the issue. And she found a place in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat as he made a special reference to the initiative that inspired him.
“The endeavour of Babita Rajput ji of village Agrotha in Madhya Pradesh will inspire all of you. Babita ji’s village is in Bundelkhand. Close to her village, once there was a very large lake which had dried up. She mobilized other women of the village itself and built a canal to bring water to the lake. Through this canal, rainwater started flowing directly into the lake. Now this lake remains filled with water,” the Prime Minister said.
A graduate in Arts, Babita decided to motivate the women of the village to find a permanent solution to the problem of water scarcity. The group of 250 women took up the challenge and dug a 107-metre-long trench, cutting through the hill, to create a waterway to recharge the village pond. It took about 18 months for them complete the task that has now become a story of innovation across the country.
“The village was under severe water crisis since 2018 and we planned to bring water to the pond in the village but had to struggle a lot in getting permission from the Forest Department,” Babita said. An NGO, Parmarth, helped them to get the required permission.
The JCB machine and dynamite were also used to break through the hill even as the women helped in digging the trench.
