Seven years after the Rotary Charitable Trust of Moodbidri rejuvenated four traditional waterbodies in the Jain heritage town under its ‘Rotalakes’ project, the waterbodies held water in the peak of this summer following recharging of groundwater from the rainwater harvested.
The project proponents said that the rejuvenation helped in open wells within at least 500-m radius of the waterbodies getting replenished storing water in this hot summer.
The Mohalla Kere or Teertha Kere, Uliya Kere, Kemplaje Kere and Subhashnagara Kere had got a facelift under the project.
“Before the rejuvenation of four ‘keres’, many open wells in the vicinity of the waterbodies were going dry in December. But now the wells have sufficient water,” R.V. Muralikrishna, a doctor who is the founder president of the trust told The Hindu. The project took off when Dr. Muralikrishna headed the trust. The members of the trust, a wing of Rotary Club of Moodbidri, worked as a team in the rejuvenation. The rejuvenation costs were borne from personal investments by the members and money collected from various sources.
Four waterbodies
The first waterbody to be rejuvenated was ‘Mohalla Kere’ or ‘Teertha Kere’ in 2016-17 in the heart of the town. It had then cost ₹12 lakh and 1,800 truckloads of silt had been lifted from it.
Over 1,000 truckloads of silt was removed from ‘Uliya Kere’ spread on about half an acre in 2017-18. It cost about ₹8 lakh.
Kemplaje Kere and Subhashnagara Kere got a facelift in 2019-20.
Of all the four waterbodies, the Kemplaje Kere project was a major one which involved an investment of ₹1.2 crore of which Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) sponsored ₹1 crore. Over 5,000 truckloads of silt and mud were removed to rejuvenate it which is spread over 1.25 acres.
A waterbody spread over one acre in Subhashnagar was dredged and about 1,500 truckloads of silt removed from it. Devu Shetty, a hotelier in Mumbai, bore the entire cost of silt transportation. Its rejuvenation cost about ₹8 lakh.
Shree Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Project, a non-governmental organisation, gave ₹7 lakh for three projects.
Maqbul Hussain, a member of the club involved in the project, said that a rainwater recharging well has been built inside the Subhashnagar Kere which is in laterite area. The well has stored water even now though at the outside the Kere looked empty.
Project hailed
Meghanath Shetty, who lived behind Mohalla Kere, told The Hindu that his family stopped purchasing tanker water in summer since past two years as the open well in his house now had sufficient water even in hot May. The family even used well water for gardening. “After the waterbody was de-silted and cleaned snakes and scorpions don’t frequent to my house like earlier,” he said.
Haneef Alangar, a former four-term member of Moodbidri Town Municipal Council, who lived in the Uliya Kere area said that the project helped in keeping about 20 open wells in the area live. Earlier many wells in the area went dry by the end of February or March.
Nagaraj, whose house is located in about half km radius from Kemplaje Kere, said that water level in the open well of his house was getting receded after December since past a decade. “After the kere was rejuvenated water level in the well lasts at least for three months and sometimes till four months,” he said. “The project has helped to keep the open wells of at least 20 houses in vicinity live at least till April,” he said adding that the kere overflowed in rainy season.
The trust is now headed by P.K. Thomas, who is also a member of the Moodbidri CMC.
