PALAKKAD: As drought stalks the state, a collective of women in the sleepy Pookottukavu panchayat in Ottappalam taluk here have worked their fingers to the bone to dig up an incredible 72 wells. Why incredible? Sample this: Around 150 women under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) ploughed, hacked and shovelled the surly virgin soil manually since November, 2016. That is 72 wells in 84 days. Now, that’s impressive!
“There are 13 wards in our panchayat. We began the work early in November when we found that the North East monsoon was patchy. This will be undertaken as an ongoing work next year also.” Currently, around 150 women are engaged in digging wells in the panchayat.
We plan to complete 100 wells by mid-February. We will organise a grand function then,” says K Jayadevan, Pookottukavu panchayat president.
“Initially the work was hard, but now we have warmed up to it. Since, we do not want the work to be done on a piecemeal basis, we depute six workers per well. On an average, 75 mandays are required to complete one well. In future, the onus of maintaining these wells will be on the same workers who dug them,” says Rathi, an MGNREGS worker.
“We pay a daily wage of `240 per day. Sometimes we hire equipment on a daily rent of `5. We also dig wells in private land. We secure an affidavit in a stamp paper from the owner stating that he will allow the public to use the water from the well. While selecting beneficiaries, priority is given to people belonging to economically backward communities,” says K P Bindu, MGNREGS overseer.
On paddy fields, we used old tiles to build retaining walls inside the well so that loose mud does not fall back. Around 1700 tiles are needed to complete a well that is 4 meters deep, she adds.
“In most of the wells, water is found at a depth of 20 ft. Sometimes, it can go up to 25 or 30 ft. While a well is dug at a cost of Rs 20,000 under the scheme, it would cost around Rs 45,000 if done individually as the daily wage per worker is around Rs 800 per day,” says Radha, another MGNREGS worker.
“I have visited many states, but in Pookottukavu panchayat in Kerala, the women have executed the work swiftly and in a time-bound manner. It is an act worth emulating for other states,” Akshay Kumar Mishra, an official of the Field Verification Agency of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development.