Pune Mirror, 11/18/2018 Cropped page Page: 4 11/18/2018 8:40:21 PM T o deal with water scarcity in drought-prone Marathwada, villagers are coming together to learn the importance of ju- dicial use of groundwater re- sources by sharing it and developing re- silience against the harsh climate. Residents from 14 villages in Bho- kardan taluka of Jalna, located about 60 km from Aurangabad, are learning to efficiently use of groundwater and budgeting it through a democratic process. The implementation of water budgeting is based on the state govern- ment’s Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act, 2009, which aims to protect ground- water resources and promote optimum utilisation of water simultaneously. “Majority of Jalna district suffers from drought conditions and water scarcity is common. Hence, the district was selected as a pilot project earlier this year,” said senior researcher Eshw- er Kale from Pune-based Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), a non- governmental organisation. Kale said an aquifer under14 villag- es on the ground surface was located. The authorities planned a water gov- ernance scheme for the communities around it. “It was found the villages shared a common aquifer and it was decided to attempt and educate a com- munity-based water sharing plan for the villagers through water literacy,” he added. Kale said that if a well or borewell is dug at an individual’s property, it is of- ten considered that the water source is owned by him and he possesses all the rights for the water use. “However, many people fail to realise that such wa- ter resources dug across a stretch from land come from a common aquifer and should be shared,” he said adding the challenge was to bring the change in mindset among the villagers. He added that the Groundwater Act of the state government has provisions to bring restrictions on exploitation of groundwater. The act bans groundwa- ter extraction beyond 60 metres. “To implement it, the villagers were taken into confidence to form a Village Water Management Team (VWMT), who will understand the water stock and plan its usage. A resolution was passed at gram panchayat level to en- sure that villagers accept it,” Kale added. He said the people were convinced that rules already exist and need to be implemented. “Rules were put in place regarding the direct lifting of ground- water, limiting the depth of digging, registration and restricting cultivation of water-intensive crops,” Kale said. Villages also prepared water health chart for the aquifer for chalking of wa- ter budget, water-harvesting and wa- ter-saving plans. “Slowly people learnt that water is a common property and water crisis is a shared problem. Understanding dif- ferent aspects of water scarcity, cli- mate change and its effects on their daily lives have helped them to ad- dress and adapt to the crisis in a better way,” Kale told Mirror. Meera Shinde from Lingewadi vil- lage said earlier no private well owners permitted to lift water from their wells. “The water literacy workshops helped to change the mindset among villagers some well owners allow to draw water upon request for villagers,” she said. Kisan Icche, sarpanch of Kotha Ja- hangir village, said, “A collective resolu- tion was passed in gram sabha to ban drilling new bore wells and changing the crop pattern during the rabi season.” He added that farmers were also convinced to use drip irrigation tech- niques to save water. Villagers get lesson on sharing groundwater NGO implemented project after it located an aquifer shared by 14 hamlets Himanshu.Nitnaware @timesgroup.com TWEETS @ThePuneMirror One of the sessions in water literacy
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Pune Mirror, 11/18/2018 Cropped page Page: 4
11/18/2018 8:40:21 PM
City 4Sunday, November 18, 2018
Heading for the stars ‘Missile woman’ Tessy Thomas was conferred the Keertan Sanjeevani Pushpalata Ra-nade Mahila Sanshodhan National Award for excellence in the field of science and re-search. Former governor of Sikkim Shrinivas Patil, radio astrophysicist Govind Swaroopand Mayor Mukta Tilak were chief guests at the ceremony held in Kothrud on Saturday.Thomas is the project director for Agni-IV missile in the Defence Research and Devel-opment Organisation (DRDO). She was awarded for becoming the first woman scientistto head a missile project in India and her contribution to the field of science.At the event, Veena Gokhale and Mangala Patil were also felicitated for extraordinarycontribution towards the society. Vaishali Raghunath Mashelkar, Sanjeevani Shanta-ram Mujumdar and Anuradha Ulhas Pawar were also felicitated with national awardmeant for the ‘ideal companion’.
Thecops have recently arrested Nepali servant,who had robbed the house of a well-knownentrepreneurial family of cash and goodsworth Rs 34.5 lakh with the help of a few oth-ers. Two of the four accused have been arrest-
ed by the crime branch within five days of the incident.The theft took place between November 10 and No-
vember 11at the Bopodi bungalow of Ashish Jain, whohad lodged the complaint with Khadki police station.The probe began soon after the complaint was filed.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) ShirishSardeshpande, “As the personal details of the ser-vants were not with the family, it was difficult totrace them. However, it was speculated that theywould be leaving the country by illegal means alongwith all the goods that they have stolen.”
Crime branch teams were sent to various stateswhere India shares a border with Nepal. Cops had re-ceived a tip-off that Nepali robbers usually distributegoods and leave the country through differentroutes. Accordingly, all the buses on the potentialroutes were being checked. The cops got to know thatthe accused are leaving for Nepal by Ghaziabad high-way. Then, the team headed by DCP Sameer Shaikhcaught them by following a bus they had boarded.
The two have been arrested from Babugad policestation jurisdiction in Hapud district of Uttar Pra-desh. The goods worth Rs.18.9 lakh have been reco-vered by the cops from them including cash of Rs6.71lakh and some diamond jewellery.
The accused have been identified as Keshar PremSahi (23) and Krishna Bikrabahadur Shah (35) bothhail from Nepal. Sahi was working at the complai-nant’s bungalow. PMB
Cops arrest Nepaliservant who robbedcity bizman of lakhs
To deal with water scarcity indrought-prone Marathwada,villagers are coming togetherto learn the importance of ju-dicial use of groundwater re-
sources by sharing it and developing re-silience against the harsh climate.
Residents from 14 villages in Bho-kardan taluka of Jalna, located about60 km from Aurangabad, are learningto efficiently use of groundwater andbudgeting it through a democraticprocess. The implementation of waterbudgeting is based on the state govern-ment’s Maharashtra Groundwater(Development and Management) Act,2009, which aims to protect ground-water resources and promote optimumutilisation of water simultaneously.
“Majority of Jalna district suffersfrom drought conditions and waterscarcity is common. Hence, the districtwas selected as a pilot project earlierthis year,” said senior researcher Eshw-er Kale from Pune-based WatershedOrganisation Trust (WOTR), a non-governmental organisation.
Kale said an aquifer under 14 villag-es on the ground surface was located.The authorities planned a water gov-ernance scheme for the communitiesaround it. “It was found the villagesshared a common aquifer and it wasdecided to attempt and educate a com-munity-based water sharing plan for
the villagers through water literacy,”he added.
Kale said that if a well or borewell isdug at an individual’s property, it is of-ten considered that the water source isowned by him and he possesses all therights for the water use. “However,many people fail to realise that such wa-ter resources dug across a stretch fromland come from a common aquifer andshould be shared,” he said adding thechallenge was to bring the change inmindset among the villagers.
He added that the Groundwater Actof the state government has provisionsto bring restrictions on exploitation ofgroundwater. The act bans groundwa-ter extraction beyond 60 metres.
“To implement it, the villagers weretaken into confidence to form a Village
Water Management Team (VWMT),who will understand the water stockand plan its usage. A resolution waspassed at gram panchayat level to en-sure that villagers accept it,” Kale added.
He said the people were convincedthat rules already exist and need to beimplemented. “Rules were put in placeregarding the direct lifting of ground-water, limiting the depth of digging,registration and restricting cultivationof water-intensive crops,” Kale said.
Villages also prepared water healthchart for the aquifer for chalking of wa-ter budget, water-harvesting and wa-ter-saving plans.
“Slowly people learnt that water isacommon property and water crisis isa shared problem. Understanding dif-ferent aspects of water scarcity, cli-mate change and its effects on theirdaily lives have helped them to ad-dress and adapt to the crisis in a betterway,” Kale told Mirror.
Meera Shinde from Lingewadi vil-lage said earlier no private well ownerspermitted to lift water from their wells.“The water literacy workshops helpedto change the mindset among villagerssome well owners allow to draw waterupon request for villagers,” she said.
Kisan Icche, sarpanch of Kotha Ja-hangir village, said, “A collective resolu-tion was passed in gram sabha to bandrilling new bore wells and changingthe crop pattern during the rabi season.”
He added that farmers were alsoconvinced to use drip irrigation tech-niques to save water.
Villagers get lesson onsharing groundwaterNGO implemented project after it located an aquifer shared by 14 hamlets
Maharashtra SocietiesWelfare Association(MSWA), a city-basedgroup of housing so-cieties and apart-
ments, has submitted a calling atten-tion notice to the Assembly Speakerfor raising the issue of reforming theMaharashtra Apartment OwnershipAct, 1970, in the House's winter ses-sion starting Monday.
The contention of the associationis that the act allegedly favours devel-opers more than the buyers. The call-ing attention motion will prompt theminister in charge to make a state-ment on the issue. Daund MLA RahulKool of the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha(RSP) submitted the notice to the As-sembly secretary on Friday on behalfof the affected apartment ownersfrom Pune city and district.
The Assembly's two-week-longwinter session will start in Mumbaiinstead of Nagpur for the first time in57 years. The minister of co-oper-ation is expected to come up with a re-ply to the queries.
The association's notice demandsto make a provision in the act, whichwill restrict a developer from register-ing one-sided deed of declaration.They demand that the deed of decla-ration of apartment shall happen on-ly after 61 per cent flats are sold andwith the mandatory consent of apart-ment owners. MSWA members havealready drafted a private bill to beheard in the session; however it is still
pending before the department oflaw and judiciary and it may take timeto get approval.
Talking to Pune Mirror, MSWAPune chapter president Yuvaraj Pa-war said, “This is high time to make alaw, which will provide rights to theflat owners. The apartment act givesone-sided powers to the developers.The developers take advantage of thesituation to earn profits. They don’tallow owners to take benefit of FSI incase of development. By raising the is-sue in the Assembly, we are willing toraise this very crucial issue. We are al-so expecting some action from thegovernment. The notice demandsamendments to the act, which will re-strict a developer from registeringthis one-sided deed of declaration.We also demand that the deed of dec-laration of apartment should happenonly after 61per cent flats are sold andwith the mandatory consent of apart-ment owners.”
When asked, MLA Kool said, “Ihave urged Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis to consider the private billon priority basis in the coming As-sembly session. However, it has stuckin formalities thereby we decided tosubmit a calling attention notice.”
As per the Maharashtra ApartmentOwnership Act, 1970, the developerregisters the deed of declaration be-fore the deputy registrar of depart-ment of co-operation without anyconsent from the flat owners. The de-velopers allegedly take the advantageand establish the rights on all kinds ofopen spaces — parking, terrace amongothers. They also establish claims onincreased floor space index (FSI).
Notice to Speaker for protecting flat buyers MSWA, through MLA Rahul Kool, files ‘calling attention motion’ for ownership act reformation
