After launching the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain campaign, the Union Jal Shakti Ministry’s flagship campaign for water conservation, on the occasion of World Water Day on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through video conferencing, interacted with the heads of five Gram Panchayats — one each from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand — who have made significant contributions to water conservation in their neighbourhoods, and commended their efforts.
Srinivas Jonnakeri, president of Dhupadamahagaon Gram Panchayat in Aurad taluk, Bidar district, was one among them. Mr. Jonnakeri’s initiative and efforts in mobilising his villages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and dredging a village lake — Goggavvana Kere — during the COVID-19 lockdown had caught the attention of the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Mr. Jonnakeri has been a part of Team Yuva, a group of dedicated volunteers that has been working for water conservation in Bidar district ever since its formation in 2013. The group has dredged over 350 wells and Kalyanis and 30 lakes so far, giving a new lease of life to them. It played a key role in convincing the district administration of the need for cleaning and rejuvenating the historical Karez, a horizontal underground water body with vertical openings for water collection and recharging connecting different places across Bidar city, which was built by the Bahmani kings.
“The Prime Minister spent more time, appropriately six minutes, with me than any other Sarpanchs who were selected for today’s interaction. As I was told by the administration a day before the interaction, I briefed the Prime Minister only on my recent activities in the field of water conservation. The Prime Minister inquired whether I was supported by villagers and I told him that all water conservation activities were taken up with the consent and the active support of the people as it was their requirement. The Prime Minister appreciated my initiative and asked me to continue it,” Mr. Jonnakeri told The Hindu after his interaction with the Prime Minister.
A large screen was put up in the village to help villagers watch the interaction live. Mr. Jonnakeri told the Prime Minister that his villagers would, standing before the screen, pledge for water conservation.
The Goggavvana Kere, a 1.5-acre lake that was named after a 12th Century Sharane [Goggavva] and a contemporary of reformer Basaveshwara, was almost full of silt and had lost its water holding capacity. After assuming power as president of Dhupadamahagaon, Mr. Jonnakeri was contemplating taking up lake dredging. The COVID-19 lockdown gave him an opportunity to mobilise his village labour and employ them for the task under the job scheme as the workers were almost jobless at the time. Apart from dredging the lake, the workers cleaned and dredged smaller streams that carried rainwater to the lake.
“Now, the lake has held a good amount of water and the entire village is using it. I am going to similarly focus on the other smaller tanks and wells in the village,” Mr. Jonnakeri said.
