Water conservation: Thimmaipally leads by example

HYDERABAD: Thimmaipally, a tribal hamlet with a population of around 2,000 in drought-prone Mahabubnagar district has caught the national attention with its water conservation techniques. The village, with a little over 400 households, came into the national limelight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned it in a recent 'Mann ki Baat' speech.
Located about 200 km from Hyderabad and about 40 km from the district headquarter, Mahbubnagar, the village was declared Open Defecation Free a month ago. "Though it is a small tribal hamlet which was converted into a gram panchayat last year, it achieved 100 per cent water harvesting pits six months ago," N Srinivas, panchayat secretary of Thimmaipally, told TOI. The village was severely affected by drought even though it is located close to hillocks from where the rainwater would flow. The villagers had dug three borewells, but they all dried up and the entire village would depend on only one tank to meet their daily requirements.
In 2014, elders of the hamlet began an initiative to find a solution to the water crisis, named after Lachhu Naik, who passed away last year, and was behind the effort that set an example for others and benefited one and all. "As there was no government land around the village, locals came forward to give their land to government officials for developing percolation tanks. While Lachhu Naik donated two acres of his land, many others followed suit and donated their land ranging from 20 guntas to one acre for construction of percolation tanks, which were ready by 2016. Today, water from four tanks - Lacha Naik Kunta, Kishan Naik Kunta, Muni Kunta and Rayudu Kunta-is being used to meet irrigation and drinking water requirements of the village," K Prabhakar, mandal parishad development officer (MPDO) of Addakul mandal in Mahbubnagar district, said. The MPDO said that the state government had spent around 14 lakh on construction of the tanks under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The percolation tanks, which have the capacity to store nearly two crore litres of water, get filled after rains.
Thimmaipally sarpanch Kishan Naik said that earlier the villagers used to cultivate only rainfed crops like jowar, but now, they are also cultivating paddy and groundnuts.