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dam-l LS: Orissa village builds small dam for self reliance



Source: Economic Times, March 28, 2000

              Cyclone-ravaged Orissa village gets self-reliant
              after building a dam

              Jatindra Dash

              BHUBANESWAR 27 MARCH

              UNDETERRED by the havoc wreaked by last year's super
              cylcone, residents of a tiny Orissa village have in a remarkable
              self-help effort constructed a dam on a river whose waters are
              irrigating nine villages in the area.

              The residents of the Betali village in the Bhadrak area have
              constructed the 400 metre-long and 6.1 metre-high dam on the
              Baitarani river which is helping irrigate 10,600 acres 
of cultivable
              land in the area, say villagers. "No funds were received either
              from the government or from any voluntary organisation to
              construct the dam,” says Chittaranjan, convenor of the
              Lokmandal, an organisation of social activists which has been
              teaching villagers how to solve their problems on their own.

              "We are also raising prohibition issues and issues of land
              belonging to tribes people,” he says. The organisation has
              around 22,000 members, most of whom work in 16 districts in
              coastal and tribal Orissa. "We had gone to this village soon after
              the cyclone last year to offer food for work,” says Mr
              Chittaranjan. "We saw people there are very energetic and hard
              working. Since they did not have other sources of income for
              their survival we suggested ways in which they could make a
              living. We had given the idea of a dam which when constructed
              on the local Baitarani river could provide them with bread and
              butter. They raised the money and contributed physical labour,”
              he said.

              "They started the construction on December 22 last year and it
              got completed and became operational on January 27, within 36
              days. Every day more than 800 people from the villages worked
              together day and night. People of Betali, mostly farmers, were
              starving after the devastation caused by the cyclone, says Mr
              Chittaranjan. "The crops were washed away and the houses
              were damaged,” says Dibakara Sahu, 55, who had to take care
              of an 18-member family. "The construction of the dam came as a
              big help to us, adding that he had been able to grow vegetables
              on his four-acre land because plenty of water had been made
              available from the dam. We earn Rs150 to Rs200 every day by
              selling vegetables in the local market,” he claims. Sahu is not
              alone. Most villagers in Betali and its eight 
neighbouring villages
              have reason to smile as they know they will survive even without
              government help. "Before the construction, our lives were in
              danger and we were almost without hope, but now we are
              happy,” Mr Sahu says.

              "My one-and-a-half acres of land would have remained infertile
              but for waters from this dam,” says Sahadev Jena of Betali. "The
              land is now being used and we have been producing vegetables,”
              he says.— IANS

              "While people are migrating in large numbers to other states in
              search of jobs, the villagers of Betali have shown how to be
              self-reliant and live with dignity," says Mr Chittaranjan. "Now
              people of Betali and its neighbouring villages have come together
              and decided to make it a permanent construction by raising
              funds on their own, without depending on anybody," he says.

              "Villagers in large numbers are coming forward and are trying to
              live with out depending on government help,” says Bijoya Parida,
              a former village council chief.

              "The government has been spending millions of rupees but the
              return is zero. People can solve their own problems and that has
              been proved by the Betali experiment,” he says.—IANS