A Mumbai college’s effort brings relief to parched villages

As mercury rose and water level dipped in the hilly terrain of Konkan region this year again, Nilesh Manvidkar’s worries increased too. His anxiety aggravated because his village Rajwel in Khed Taluka is located on a hilly slope and fetching drinking water from the hill’s bottom was an extremely difficult task his fellow villagers, especially women, would have been forced to undertake.
Thanks to Mumbai Central-based Maharashtra College of Science, Arts and Commerce, Manvidkar’s and many other villages in Konkan’s Khed Taluka in Ratnagiri district can take a sigh of relief. Maharashtra College’s teachers, students, members of the management and many alumni have pooled in money to get borewells dug in four villages since April this year. More borewells are in the pipeline.
“We are grateful to Maharashtra College’s principal Sirajuddin Chougle Sahab that he took the lead and sent an appeal to teachers, students and alumni for help. The villagers will remain indebted to him as the borewells have substantially solved the problem of drinking water scarcity,” said Manvidkar. Seated at his second-floor office at Maharashtra College, Chougle narrated the pain villagers felt due to lack of drinking water. “Konkan gets good rains. Unfortunately, the rainwater flows into the sea since there is no way to hold the water,” said Chougle, who comes from Chiplun in Konkan’s Ratnagiri district. He added that, so far, borewells in four villages — Rajwel, Nive Ramadi, Tumbard and Kurval Javli — have been provided. Significantly, all these wadis or small villages are populated by Hindus and the help in the form of borewells has reached from a Muslim-managed college.
“We didn’t think that the beneficiaries are not Muslims. This is help to fellow Indians,” added the principal.
Founded in 1968, Maharashtra College caters to mostly students from underprivileged backgrounds. Noted Islamic scholar and former minister Rafiq Zakaria was the College’s first chairman. His wife Fatma Zakaria took over as its chairperson in 2005, and remained on the post till her death in 2021. Mohammed Ahmed Khan is currently its chairman. Chougle added that some members in the management individually helped with funds for borewells. “The college doesn’t have any funds for this kind of work, but my colleagues, students and many alumni responded to my appeal positively. Each borewell cost around Rs one lakh,” explained Chougle.
Actually, volunteers of NGO Jal Foundation approached Chougle with a request to do something to solve the scarcity of drinking water in some districts of Konkan.
Nitin Jadhav of Jal Foundation said he suggested villages in Khed Taluka to Khalid Chougle, an activist who spoke to the Maharashtra College’s principal. “The villages are parched. It is mainly women who have to trek two-three kilometers daily to fetch water. Dams in Konkan were planned but many remain unfinished. The borewells provide a big relief,” said Jadhav.
Khalid Chougle explained that in the first phase, Khed Taluka has been chosen for digging borewells. “As we get more funds, we will cover more villages. Jal Foundation has helped us in many ways as they have the expertise in this field,” said Khalid.
Back to Maharashtra College, the principal expresses joy over the fact that he could start this initiative. Involving students in this social cause will help sensitise them towards responsibility to help people in need. “Another benefit of this campaign is that students indirectly get awareness about the value of water,” he said.
Exposing youths to the universal need for preserving water is a lesson that cannot be done in classrooms alone. Making them part of this good initiative may help students get conscious of a problem that many of us do not take seriously.