Govt official becomes rain god

Govt official becomes rain god
JANYALA SREENIVAS

JUNAGADH, DECEMBER 31: He is simply known as the check dam wado bhai. Mansukhbhai Suvagiya is the new messiah for thousands of villagers in water-scarcity-hit, parched areas of rural Saurashtra.

Single-handedly, Suvagiya has mobilised funds and villagers to build more than 100 check dams across rivulets and streams, specially in Junagadh and drought-prone Amreli district, in the last one year and a half. The result: In an area where surface water is hard to find, the check dams have recharged water tables with whatever little rain the region received.A junior officer in the Gujarat Land Development Corporation, 53-year-old Suvagiya was moved by the plight of women walking barefoot long distances to fetch drinking water. He noticed that, in the absence of funds, state-sponsored check dam projects made slow progress. So, he decided to harness and retain whatever little water was available.

Suvagiya inspired villagers to collect money and then to make one week's `shramdan' for building the check dams.``Initially, it was difficult to convince villagers that it is possible to build check dams without `sarkari' help. They were not entirely sure that they could collect the money and themselves build the dams.''

But once Suvagiya convinced them, funds started coming in. ``Due to the scarcity, there was often no work in the fields. So, mobilising the people to do voluntary labour was easy,'' he said. Suvagiya put to use his own knowledge in making surveys, identifying spots where check dams could be made and his expertise in construction. With each success, his popularity spread in the water-thirsty rural areas.

Says Natwarbhai Chandarana of Junagadh, who has closely followed Suvagiya's mission: ``He is so much in demand these days that farmers and villagers make a beeline, asking him to visit their village and help construct check dams. Some villages have already collected funds and are waiting for Mansukhbhai to visit them.''

Suvagiya's check dams are simple, made with sand, stones and some cement inless than a week. And he has built more than a hundred of them. Recently, inspired by Suvagiya, the people of Shirvania, an obscure village in Junagadh district, collected Rs 45,000 and constructed 11 check dams through shramdan. No MP or MLA has ever bothered to visit this village of 265 people in the last 53 years.

Suvagiya started off in his native Amreli taluka initially. ``But the check dams have been most successful in Junagadh taluka where the bunds constructed last year bore fruit when they retained a lot of water this monsoon. Although, it did not rain very heavily, the groundwater tables were recharged in most of the villages, especially in Visavadar, Junagadh and Mendarda talukas,'' says Amitbhai Patel of Visavadar.

Says Junagadh collector Sunayana Tomar: ``It is very surprising that one man could unite so many people, collect so much money and get the check dams constructed. He has done a lot of good work in these areas and is a well-known name.''

Dhirubhai Bhaskar, a farmer and member ofthe Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, says that in spite of the failed monsoon, several farmers in Junagadh and Amreli districts could salvage their crops because they could draw water from the recharged bores. ``The check dams retained the water, which recharged the groundwater tables,'' said Bhaskar, adding, ``Today, Suvagiya is seen as a messiah in this region.''

While Suvagiya is making check dams, he continues to be a GLDC employee, but there has been no problem. ``He is doing the kind of work which GLDC is supposed to do. The government appreciates his work and encourages him to carry on,'' explains the collector. Says Suvagiya, ``It becomes hectic sometimes, but I am able to manage both well.''