JHARKHAND: Denied water to cultivate his fields, Chumbru Tamsoy of Kumirta village in West Singbhum district in Jharkhand has dug a 100- by-100 feet pond all by himself. It took him 40 years to realise his dream. But the perseverance has paid off.
The 75-year-old is now watering his crops in nearly five acres of land and has planted around 60 trees, including mango, arjun, neem and sal with the pond dug by him. Chumbru started his journey in 1975 when he migrated to Lucknow in search of a livelihood as his place was hit by a drought-like situation. But he faced many hardships and wasn’t getting paid regularly.
That’s when he decided to return to his village. “After working for a few weeks, I thought that if I have to do the same thing several hundred kilometers away from home, why not do the hard work on my own land. Without giving a second thought, I returned home after staying there for a month and started growing vegetables and planting trees on the seven acres of land available to me,” said Chumbru. But soon he encountered problems as water was scarce in the region.
“When I asked some of the villagers for water from their ponds to irrigate my fields, they refused. This proved to be a turning point in my life as I decided then and there to dig a pond on my own,” he said. According to family members, Chumbru worked on the pond regularly and would often leave home even at midnight with a kerosene lamp to work on the pond.
His daughter-in-law Charima said that neither anybody supported him nor he sought any help from others in digging the pond. “Right from digging to carrying the soil on his head and throwing them outside the pond, was done by my father-in-law only. He never sought help from others and used to work religiously to make his dream come true,” she said.
The pond dug by Chumbru is now used by others in the village and he never stops them. Interestingly, those who denied water to him are also using his pond as it holds water in the summer while other ponds get dry.
75-year-old now uses water in 5 acre land
Chumbru Tamsoy of Kumirta village in West Singbhum district in Jharkhand has dug a 100-by-100 feet pond all by himself. It took him 40 years to realise his dream. The 75-year-old is now watering his crops in nearly five acres of land and has planted around 60 trees, including mango, arjun, neem and sal