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Water, Irrigation at Village Daman. Morni Hills.

 Water. Dr SS Grewal. Mrs Ritu Singal.

Water gives life. The Morni Hills in Panchkula District can be dry in summer. Denudation, population pressure and people from the plains building houses there plus of course climate change are all factors. And partly geographical as the plates move.
Dr SS Grewal, the accomplished soil scientist, who has devoted a life time to water, water for farming, heads the NGO SPACE, post retirement, pushing 73 pls years, he stays committed. Not only here but in the Arravalis too. More about him later.
We had teamed up to take up projects on water conveyance and water storage systems in Morni Hils. Funds were to be sourced from CSR funding. Well we got nowhere !! Then we reduced the size of funding required but still found no takers, some businessmen wanted the two of us to convince a couple of youngsters on their CSR Team who had no clue about such work. Then Mrs Ritu Singal stepped in. She is the Chairperson cum Managing Director Raglan Group and Winner Nippon Leatherette Pvt Ltd as also heads the Namah Foundation.
We decided to initiate the project with a water tank in village Daman of 10.30 metres x 3.85 metres x 1.8 metres.
Two days ago it was a really good day with Mrs Ritu Singal. And her team in the Morni Hills.
The tank to store water is in a rather tough terrain and cost Rs 3.29 lakh and Mrs Ritu Singal through her foundation has donated Rs 3.00 lakh and the farmers raised and contributed Rs 0.29 lakh. The tank has been completed in rather very tough terrain and donkeys had to be used to ferry material. The rocky strata had to be literally carved out. And then shuttering was done. It was tough going on rather harrowing tracks. The completion of the project has brought happiness and motivation to the farmers.
The assured irrigation will facilitate agricultural activities throughout the year for 32 farmers farming 36 acres of land with a focus on ginger, garlic, turmeric, coriander, tomatoes, cucumber, onions. This is a game changer. And the water will be distributed by an age old understanding amongst the farmers. They adhere to it religiously. I asked this specially.
Dr Surinder Singh Grewal Grewal, and I are all not only happy but also deeply satisfied for the farmers and I sincerely compliment Mrs Ritu Singal and her team for their coming forward. She and her daughter were humility personified in the field and shared the happiness of the farmers. Her only condition was to let the community lead the project and this has project has been planned and executed by the farmers including deciding the sourcing of cement etc. Dr SS Grewal of course technically remained involved and we ensured accounts and proceedings were maintained.
We look forward to implementing and executing through the community more such micro projects including cleaning up small ponds of spring water too.
Personally speaking, what some rather fancy names did not agree to, Mrs Ritu Singal has quietly agreed to fund after a field visit. This I really value. We also visited the local Govt School.









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