Author:
by Dr. Alok Pandey, Dy. Director, PRIA
Community people assembled from 6 Gram Panchayats of Sahibganj (Jharkhand) showed their ownership on the water security plan (WSP), before the Deputy Commissioner of the district by saying âMeri yojana hai, hame pata hai ki kya kam hona hai aur kab hona haiâ. This was said by them during the District Level Project Advisory Committee Meeting, organised on 11th March 2015 at Sahibganj. This advisory committee is formed under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner of Sahibgnaj to monitor the progress and to guide the project enpost_titled âDecentralised drinking water security in 6 Arsenic affected GPs of Sahibganjâ being implement by PRIA and SATHEE in collaboration with Arghyam Foundation since 2013.
This time the district advisory committee met to discuss the pre-feasibility report (PFR) and detail project report (DPR) that has been drafted for implementation of WSP of Ambadiha Gram Panchayat. When the Deputy Commissioner shared his concerns on the slow progress of the project the villagers categorically shared that this is not a process guided by the state officials. They shared very openly that all the processes are owned by them and they know, very well, that what is going on in the project. They also argued to implement the plan after a proper vetting.
Pradhan of Sri Ram Chauki (Santhali) shared, very confidently, that the villagers are very hopeful that the officials of the drinking water and sanitation will provide their full support to this plan and with the help of village water and sanitation committee the community people of his area would be able to implement this plan. He mentioned in the meeting that villagers have already earmarked the land in Sri Ram Chauki village to develop some new structure for water conservation and water harvesting. The Jal Sahiyas (appointed by the state) who were there in the meeting also confirmed this before the Deputy Commissioner.
The process that has been adopted under the project has been able to develop, apart from capacities to draft a participatory plan, a level of confidence among the community people. This is a good indicator for project also.
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