Brings water, mitigates migration in many villages

A solar powered water pump installed by Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam in a remote village Khaldar under Doiwala block in Dehradun district has provided the villagers with easy availability of water and that, in its turn, is helping in arresting the trend of migration, said Dehradun District Magistrate SA Murugesan  on Thursday. He further said that such pumps would be installed in other villages too which are grappling with water scarcity.

Giving details of the scheme, assistant engineer, mechanical branch, Uttarakhand Peyjal Nigam said that following the direction of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, solar powered pump was installed in Khaldar village. “Solar powered pump of the capacity of 2000 watts and two hp motors were installed in the village.

This is the first solar powered peyjal scheme executed  as part of the pilot project based in Dehradun district,” he said.

He further said that Khaldar village remaining bereft of water source for over two decades, the villagers used to trudge a long way to fetch water. “This propelled migration and the village got nearly emptied of its population. The newly installed solar powered pumping facility is benefitting around 150 families of the villagers. With the water crisis being over, many of those who left the village are ready to return,” he said. 

The meeting was further informed that the project was delayed due to fund constraint. Besides, the time the forest department took in clearing the project delayed things further.    After successful implementation of solar powered pumping scheme in Khaldar, a proposal has been sent for the same for a number villages like Lohel, Sateli and Surisen.

The officer said that  they would start work on such schemes once the required fund is received. “This would go a long way in solving the water crisis plaguing many villages in the district and also in mitigating migration. Nagam has set a target of installing around 100 solar powered hand pumps  in several villages of the district by the end of this year,” the officer said.