Local residents join hands for Marathwada

What difference can one litre of water make A lot, if you ask these concerned citizens. A group of Mumbaikars have come together for the Save Water Donate Water drive that kicks off on May 15, with the help of NGOs Anubhav and Jalsandharan in Marathwada, as well as locals.

As part of this drive, volunteers will visit buildings and colonies in their areas, asking them to donate water. The donated quantity can be anything from one litre to as much as the residents are willing to give. Andheri resident Kirit Jain, who is a part of this initiative, says, “The water will be collected and transported to Marathwada using trucks. Some of our volunteers will visit the villages to ensure that the distribution happens smoothly.” He continues, “Our aim is to make people realise how grave the situation is in Marathwada. One bottle of water is a big contribution. With this, I hope citizens understand how often we take water for granted.” The group used pamphlets, Facebook Pages and WhatsApp groups to spread the message about their campaign. Kirit says, “We have done everything we can to spread awareness about the campaign. I know that people will mostly be enthusiastic about the initiative.”

The water will mainly be sent to the districts of Beed and Latur, since these are the worst hit areas. Pravin Kadam, a resident of Charkop, explains, “The trucks will go to the gram panchayats of these villages. From there, the water will be distributed to the respective residents.”

It was not a smooth ride for the campaigners as not everyone was convinced about the idea. Pravin states, “Since an initiative like this is being carried out for the first time, a lot of people didn’t take our word for it.” Kirit recalls visiting societies and receiving responses like “We’ve already done our part by donating money.” But there were some who were actually enthusiastic about the campaign. Pravin says, “The sponsors wanted to give a thousand litres as donation, but that would defeat the whole purpose of our campaign. We don’t need a thousand litres, we want people to understand the significance of one litre of water.”