The State mission of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is set to launch watershed-based projects for soil and water conservation across Kerala.
A pilot project has now been launched at the Pullampara grama panchayat in the capital district, where a wide-ranging project aimed at recharging groundwater will be implemented.
The MGNREGS is taking up watershed-based projects as parts of efforts to reorient the scheme from a mere job-giving one to one that would contribute towards environmental protection, improvement of biodiversity and agricultural production, and creation of durable assets.
According to MGNREGS State mission officials, there have been individual works on groundwater recharging or improvement of streams under the project in some areas. But till now, there has not been a comprehensively planned project for a larger area.
“Under the project, the watersheds will be scientifically identified and projects for the whole area planned. For instance, if a canal is chosen, various kinds of water conservation activities will be planned around it. This will be a much more intensive, result-oriented project than the existing individual ones. The planning process has already begun for similar projects in all the other thirteen districts. By focusing on such projects, we are also planning to reduce the amount of land-based activities now being carried out in individual plots,” said an MGNREGS State mission official.
Under the pilot project titled ‘Neeruravu’ in Pullampara gramapanchayat, a project worth ₹4 crore is being planned in an area of 266 hectares, spread over 2-3 wards. Check dams will be built across the streams to control the flow as well as to increase the groundwater level. In the catchment areas of the canals or streams, rain pits and bunds will be constructed and afforestation will be carried out. Ponds will be made and wells in these regions will be recharged.
As part of the project, revenue-generating assets including cowsheds and work sheds for self-help groups in the area will also be constructed. For scientific treatment of waste, compost pits and soak pits will also be made. The State mission estimates that at least 60,000 work days will be created in the region in the three years that the project will take for completion.
