Central team inspects madakas in Udupi

Udupi: Piyush Ranjan, director, ministry of defence and central nodal officer, Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA), and Laxmi Narayan Thakural, centre technical officer, inspected the water conservation works, especially the madakas of Nadoor and Kadoor villages of Kadoor gram panchayat on Tuesday.
Madakas are the most common traditional rainwater harvesting structures, used mainly in the laterite belt districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod. As madaka sites are intelligently located, during the rainy season, a large amount of run-off gets collected, which helps in increasing the groundwater table. Madaka recharge is like an entry point programme towards water conservation.
The panchayat has conducted desilting and restoration of 16 madakas under the MGNREGA scheme. Panchayat development officer Mahesh K said the restoration of madakas played an important role in water conservation. “The works that were taken up with the objective of utilising minimum resources, and public participation to obtain maximum impact, caught the attention of the central team. Despite receiving heavy rain between 2015-2017, during the peak summer, drinking water used to be supplied in tankers. However, once the revival of the madakas was taken up, we have not supplied water in tankers to villagers. Out of the 16 madakas that have been rejuvenated, seven waterbodies were desilted by women’s groups, and a few by youth, during the Covid-19 lockdown,’’ he said.
Further, he said that the central team has appreciated the conservation measures taken up in a village. Meanwhile, the team also suggested taking up more rainwater harvesting measures, including the construction of check dams, as well as percolation pits, for replenishing water. The team stressed on how every drop of rainwater was precious. They also visited the Katbelthoor and Kalyanpur villages, to check various works, based on which a report will be submitted to the government, Mahesh said.