Mumbai trust provides 45 lakh litres of water to Beed district

A city-based public charitable trust today said it has provided 45 lakh litres of water in the last fortnight to the people in the drought-affected Beed district of Maharashtra.
Fulora Foundation, in a statement here, said it plans to keep on supplying water to parched villages in the district till June-end or till monsoon rains fill up reservoirs.
According to the 32-year old Foundation, it works for uplift of underprivileged children and women by giving them basic education and training to earn livelihood by themselves.
"With the help of our volunteers, we started providing water daily to 35 villages by tankers of 10,000 litres capacity each from April 27.

"In an average population of 1,500 people, they get around 6 to 7 litres per head or around 30 to 35 litres per day per family. This water quantity allows them to cook and do other chores. Till now, we have provided over 45,00,000 litres of water to thirsty villagers," said Mayank Gandhi, Executive Trustee of the Foundation and former Aam Aadmi Party leader.
The situation in Beed district in Marathawada is heart -wrenching and helplessness of the people is visible on their faces, he said, adding the region is facing fourth drought in the last six years.

Narrating his experience, Gandhi, who personally supervised the project, said, "The abject poverty, injustice and helplessness of the people has moved me. Water levels have gone down as never before. People's mood is of depression."

The water that the Foundation supplied was collected from sources in Beed, around 400km from here, itself, and transported by tankers to distant villages, he said.
Elaborating on future plans of his trust, Gandhi said the Foundation will continue to work in Beed district, where it plans to increase the per capita income of people from Rs 600 now to Rs 1,500 in the next three years.
The organisation will work on water conservation and management, crop patterns, direct sale of produce to consumers, supply chain management, education, vocational training and health solutions. It will create a cluster of 11 villages that can become a development model for replication across the nation," he said.