Mumbai: A voluntary one-day salary contribution of Rs 12.lakh from teaching and non-teaching staff of Vivekanand Education Society (VES) across 26 VES-affiliated institutes  to NGO Jankalyan Samiti has been utilized for initiating permanent water harvesting measures in drought-hit Maharashtra. The NGO, actively involved in drought relief efforts in rural Maharashtra since 1972, stated this in an assessment session organized to ascertain how the funds were utilized. The session was held in the VES auditorium on June 11.

“As responsible citizens, we are aware of our duties of contributing towards natural calamities like droughts. However, we feel skeptical of whether the funds provided by us would be utilized honestly and effectively for redressing the problems of the affected sections of population. However, with the presentation given by Jankalyan Samiti concerning the utilization of our funds in water harvesting programs, we have been assured that our funds have been properly utilized,” said Dr Sandeep Bharadwaj, Faculty, VES Institute of Management.

Commenting at length on how funds were dispensed towards various drought relief measures, Pradeep Paradkar, Treasurer, Jankalyan Samiti said, “Funds contributed by VES have been utilized for starting permanent water harvesting projects in three villages of drought-hit Jalna district in Maharashtra.  These projects have been planned to bring about benefits to farmers and provide a long-term solution to the water scarcity problem in the region. We also have undertaken a major water harvesting project in the Latur district of Maharashtra with the widening work of Manjara river wherein 14 km of the river has been widened out of the total outlined widening work of 18 kms. The outlay for the project is estimated at approximately Rs 7.70 crore. With the completion of this project and increase in amount of harvested water, the city is expected to receive water supply every alternate day from the present situation where water is supplied every 15 days. Till date, we have completed 32 water harvesting projects across 10 districts of Maharashtra. We have spent Rs. 75 lakh for 11 projects which have been completed and have estimated an outlay of Rs.9 lakh for 5 projects which are in the proposal phase.”

Lauding the initiative of the VES staff in contributing towards the drought relief efforts, Shri. Mahesh Tejwani, President, VES, said, “the staff of VES has always believed in contributing for social relief initiatives. As an institution committed to non-commercialization of education and thrust on value-based teaching, we strongly believed that it is our foremost duty to help our fellow brethren in drought-hit rural Maharashtra. We will continue to be in the forefront of spearheading several community welfare programs as part of our belief”

Source : Lokesh Shastri