College students pool in water for Marathwada

Yoko Ono once famously said that every drop in the ocean counts. The words couldn’t be more true than in the case of severe drought Maharashtra seems to be facing right now. Moved by the plight of those affected by the paucity of water, students from Anubhav Mumbai — a department under the aegis of Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, with an NGO We the people held a three-day ‘Save Water, Share Water’ campaign.

Collaborating with students from Vivek College, KES College, Dalmia, Vidhya Vikas and Shailendra College, Anubhav collected one bottle of drinking water per family from housing complexes in Goregaon West, and donated them to people in Mankhurvadi in Beed, as part of the campaign.

Sandesh Lalge, the facilitator of the programme brought together students from NSS units of these colleges to start the drive. The volunteers divided themselves into pairs and went to 50 housing societies, aiming for a minimum of one-litre water as contribution. “I don’t socialise much and it was very difficult to go door-to-door asking for water from strangers, but considering the fact that we live in an urban city with all our requirements met, and that our friends in rural areas have to struggle for something as simple as water, I decided to keep my inhibitions aside and went ahead. Though the residents were willing to contribute, they were sceptical whether the water would actually reach the needy,” reveals Sonali God, a student of Vivek College.

While some societies readily agreed, seeking permission from some was an uphill task, “We started going to various housing societies, but the time we had at hand was very short and getting permission from the secretaries was not easy. We explained our campaign and tried convincing them. Finally, they let our students in,” Sandesh says. For Nikhil Jain from Dalmia College, working for social issues is a passion and his enthusiasm for the cause helped bring several kids from his own society on board as well. “We collected about 800 bottles, and all societies were very cooperative. I even convinced kids from my locality and they agreed. With them, I also managed to raise some funds and purchased 22 cans. We then woke up at 4 am and filled those cans,” Nikhil says.

After three-days of constant hard work, on April 26, a truck containing 15,000 litres of water reached the village. “The joy in their eyes on seeing cans of water can’t be described in words. Mankhurvadi is about 30km in the interiors of Beed. They were expecting a water truck for 3-days but nothing had worked for them. The villagers revealed that water was available some 3-4 km away from the village and it was not potable. Also, since the men went to work, the women and children in the village would end up going to collect water. The water we distributed would suffice for four days but later they’ll again have to be dependent on water that was unfit for consumption,” says Dayashankar Vishwakarma, a long-time volunteer with Anubhav. They now plan to quench the village’s thirst on a regular basis. “We plan to adopt the village and solve their problems on a weekly basis. We have been receiving calls from all over Mumbai and people want to do their bit for these villages.

Reaching out to other parts of the citis now on our radar,” he reveals.

To do your bit: Call Sandesh Lalge: 8082614442, Dayashankar Vishwakarma: 9664204761