Under Tata Steel Rural Development Society’s “Mission Hariyali” a total of 12 lift irrigation projects have been completed. The projects were handed over to the villagers of Dungridih village under the Saraikela-Kharswan district on February 29 by Mr Arjun Munda, Honourable Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

The ground work for Mission Hariyali began over 15 months ago. Despite the abundance of water, farmers of Saraikela-Kharswan were unable to tend their land as they could not bring the water to their fields. While 26% of the total land was cultivable, a mere 9% was being used by the villagers. With the motivation of TSRDS the villagers formed self-help groups and showed keen interest in using the waters of the Sona and Sanjay rivers through lift irrigation projects.

Mr Arjun Munda is welcomed by Mr. A N Singh and Mrs Shakti Sharma

The villagers were even willing to take a loan to install lift irrigation projects but the project cost was proving prohibitive. The Deputy Commissioner of Saraikela-Kharsawan, Mrs Vandana Dadel, IAS appreciated the problem and agreed to share the infrastructure cost from the district’s development fund.

A total of 20 projects, covering six panchayats and 2355 acres, were launched by Mr Arjun Munda, the then Honourable Welfare Minister of the Government of Jharkhand on December 5, 2002. Immediately, six pani panchayats became operational in ten villages of the area. Under the Swarn Jayanti Rojgar Yojna the villagers have since then contributed Rs. 14,07,231 and Rs 37,17,379 to DRDA. The farmers reaped a rich harvest both during the rabi and kharif seasons.

The success of these pani panchayats has spurred eight new village level functional groups to request for the installation of lift irrigation projects. Their project proposals have already been processed.