NEW DELHI — District Rural Development Agency in Dindigul district has succeeded in a world record by setting up 2050 water recharge ring-wells, while workers under MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) got a continuous job for over seven days to create these water recharge ring-wells and the district marched into record books in the category “Most Ring Well Water Recharge Structures Constructed in 7 Days”.
According to District Collector Dr S. Visagan, “With a heartfelt pledge to improve the groundwater potential before the onset of Monsoons in Tamil Nadu, we decided to create 2050 water recharge ring-well structures in 306 village Panchayats of 14 Blocks at a unit cost of Rs. 0.22 lakhs with a total project cost of Rs. 4.51 Crores within seven days from 11-08-2022 till 17-08-2022 under the MGNREGS.”
This feat was certified as a world record by Elite World Records, Asian Records Academy, India Records Academy and Tamilan Book of Records.
The aim behind the initiative was to ensure groundwater recharge, envisioning adequate water for agriculture purposes during the Summer and hence a brainstorming session was conducted for DRDA team, which led to the idea of creating water recharge ring-well structures.
“Started with the guidance of Minister for Co-operation I. Periyasamy and the project was inaugurated by R. Sakkarapani, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, the scheme soon caught the attention of many as the work progressed with daily monitoring,” he further pointed out.
C. Dinesh Kumar, Additional Collector (DRDA) added that district like Dindigul in Tamil Nadu faces severe water insufficiency for agriculture during Summer every year and farmers carry out their agriculture with the support of groundwater by establishing bore wells. “Hence, we decided to initiate a project to visualize rainwater harvesting and recharging the same to the ground, which will ensure and improve groundwater potential. After a conceiving session, we decided that the creation of water recharge ring-well structures at multiple locations will give a permanent solution to this.”
“We had detailed planning at Block Level and Village Level and locations were strategically identified and selected which envisages recharge of groundwater. Rigorous meetings and workshops were conducted for the entire DRDA team in order to educate and impart the process of establishing the structures. We had three levels of internal verification process to monitor the progress and execution of this project,” he added.
“I along with nine more adjudicators and third-party ratifying agencies physically inspected 517 out of 2285 water recharge ring-well structures in Dindigul district. Each structure was a minimum of 1.75mts in length, 1.75mts in breadth and 6 feet in depth. The district administration has adhered to all the norms and regulations set by us. After a stringent verification process, eminence check and standard deductions, we qualified the record with a count of 2050,” said Ameet. K. Hingorani, Senior Adjudicator, Elite World Records.
“Catch the Rain and Recharge to the Ground” Project by creating rainwater recharge ring-well structures to envisage and improve ground water level has given a lot of faith and confidence to farmers. I suggest and hope that the district administration will clear the silts accumulated in the rings at equal intervals and maintain all these ring wells for their best efficiency,” said Dr A. K. Senthil Kumar, Ambassador and Senior Adjudicator, Asian Records Academy.
“This visionary project executed by DRDA Dindigul district will be an everlasting asset to the people. These 2050 ring wells strategically established near the check dams, water flow and stagnating locations of this district, will recharge a minimum of 16 to 30 crore litres of rainwater to the ground. We are proud to certify this as a world record,” said P. Jeganathan, Senior Records Manager, India Records Academy.
“Water recharge ring-well structures had been an integral part of Tamil life. With changes in the cultural and social milieu, they lost their importance. This project has created awareness of the importance of rainwater harvesting,” said Dr B. Bala Subramanian, Senior Records Manager, Tamilan Book of Records.
11425 MGNREGS workers have put in their continuous efforts for seven days and endeavoured towards making this marathon project a successful one in such a record time, which will be an everlasting asset to the district. This project has bagged a lot of appreciation on the whole.
