As many as 40 lakes in Mysuru district will be revived under Namma Jala Bhadrate programme being taken up as part of Mass Scale Rejunvenation of Waterbodies.
The project is entirely being supported by NGOs and is expected to cost ₹1.28 crore which will be funded by Asian Paints Ltd. as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
M.P. Varsha, Managing Trustee, Center for Rural Education Development and Innovative Technologies of India (CREDIT-I), told The Hindu that the works have already commenced and entails dredging of lakes so as to augment water retaining capacity.
CREDIT-I is playing the dual role as District Anchor and Community Anchor and the project is also supported by six other NGOs – namely GUARD, TARDO, Disha Foundation, Vishwamanava Trust and Navodaya Foundation.
Though the project initially entailed dredging 90 tanks in the district during the current financial year, heavy and unseasonal rains from October through December first week saw copious water in the lakes and hence no works could be taken.
Mr. Harsha said through ₹2.88 crore was approved for 90 tanks, the works could commence only in the second week of January and dredging 40 tanks was deemed to be a more realistic target. He said the technical support for the project has been extended by IIT for IIT (IITians for Influencing Indias Transformation), an organisation launched by IITians to support projects and scale it up for community and social impact. A pilot project was first conducted at Kolar under Gram Vikas and subsequently it was decided to extend the same to Mysuru district with CREDIT-I playing the lead role.
Though there are nearly 2,500 water bodies and lakes in Mysuru, the organisations decided to have a more focused approach and decided to identify waterbodies in regions where the community’s dependence on lakes was high and agriculture takes place under rain-fed conditions, according to Mr. Varsha. He said lakes in such areas tend to be better maintained given their utility and hence were identified for the desiltation programme so that the locals benefit from it. ‘’In a bid tomake the local community partners in development and give them a sense of ownership of the rejuvenated lakes, the farmers were asked to pay ₹30 per tractor load of silt which was to be used in their fields while the rest of the cost is being borne by the project proponents’’, Mr.Harsha added.
Apart from augmenting water holding capacity of the tanks, the project will also help increase the ground water table and agriculture output. Farmers know the benefit of silt and only those tanks where silt removal has not taken place for the last 5 years are being taken up for rejuvenation. The silt will be applied to the agricultural fields and will increase the soil fertility besides increasing crop output, said Mr. Harsha.
The Mysuru Zilla Panchayat has given permission for the project besides issuing directives to the local panchayat development officers to extend all support to the NGOs in lake rejuvenation. Once completed, the project will be expanded to include those waterbodies not covered under the lake conservation project launched by the Government.
