A low-cost check dam model to retain water for irrigation in Jharkhand’s rebel-hit Khunti district has fetched an award of excellence from the Union Jal Shakti ministry.

The award for the bori bandh project through community participation in the participatory water management category was presented to Khunti deputy commissioner Shashi Ranjan at the National Water Innovation Summit 2020 held on a virtual platform in Delhi on Friday.

The award was given by Jal Shakti ministry secretary U.P. Singh.

Villagers take part in the construction of bori bandh in Khunti. Bhola Prasad

“It is a proud moment for the district and has been achieved due to the participation of all stakeholders, especially rural communities and gram sabhas even in remote blocks of the district. We would now be undertaking the bori bandh project in more blocks. The ministry secretary was highly impressed and has expressed the desire to visit the sites soon,” said Ranjan.

Jharkhand drinking water and sanitation minister Mithilesh Thakur congratulated the Khunti district administration and Sewa Welfare Society, an NGO, for the commendable job in watershed management.

Social worker Ajay Sharma, who is associated with the welfare society, said the check dam model had won Khunti a Skoch award (considered the highest civilian honour in the country conferred by an independent organisation) in June this year.

“The innovative low-cost bori bandh model built by several NGOs, including Sewa Welfare Society, in collaboration with the district administration fetched Khunti a Skoch award, presented in Delhi on June 20.

A bori bandh is constructed by filling sand and soil in used cement bags. The bags are kept on one atop the other to stop the water from flowing into the local rivulets.

This helps provide water for irrigation throughout the year and also helps maintain the water level in wells and borings.

The biggest advantage of the dam is that it does not led to displacement of people anyone as is the case with big check dams and helps villagers prosper by increasing their source of income,” said Sharma.

Over 200 bori bandhs have been set up in Khunti, Murhu, Torpa and Karra blocks of the district. The water harvesting structure has become a game-changer among small and marginal farmers who earlier had to depend on only rainfall for kharif crops, he said.

However, with bori bandhs they can cultivate mustard and wheat in rabi season and also grow vegetables in large tracts as against the earlier practice when agriculture land used to remain fallow during the entire rabi season forcing farmers to migrate to nearby cities in search of livelihood and work as daily wagers in factories, he added.

“Usually, a check dam costs in excess of Rs 25 lakh while a bori bandh costs around Rs 2,000. However, during heavy rain when the river is in spate such bori bandhs are swept away. However, they are built again after the rainy season. But the negligible cost outweighs this disadvantage,” said Sharma.

Khunti is also one of the aspirational districts among the 115 in the country selected by Niti Aayog.