The tribal hinterlands of Dang, Narmada and Bharuch are considered among the six economically distressed districts of Gujarat.
But the 12-year-long effort of Neeta Patel has helped these regions get some respite.
Patel’s work on water conservation and women empowerment has impacted the lives of over 30,000 inhabitants, spread across 51 villages in these districts.
She has helped erect water harvesting structures and set up water committees.
She recalls, “My family owns an acre of land on which we grew crops during the monsoon while my parents worked as farm labourers the rest of the year.”
“My two brothers and I supplemented the household income doing odd jobs like cutting grass, harvesting sugarcane or picking mangoes, earning Rs 12 a day.”
After Class 7, she used to walk 22km every day to the nearby village of Agasi to pursue further education.
While scholarships saw her through school, in 2002 she joined the AKRSP (I) (Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)), to work as a development organiser and was sent to Kambodiya village in Bharuch district.
Having found that there was no facility for potable water, she assisted the villagers in drawing out a plan to install water supply channels.
But, the panchayat refused their plea.
For days together, then a 23-year-old, Patel persisted, mobilising the villagers and ultimately made the Panchayat yield resulting in 200 households receiving regular water supply.
Till then, the local water committee had excluded women from being members but following the protests, the panchayat gave up passing a resolution favouring them.
In another instance, the sarpanch refused the village women of Kirli from installing a hand pump despite the funds coming from a Mahila Vikas Mandal.
But persistent efforts of the locals and Patel led to the Panchayat consenting and the villagers becoming proud owners of a hand pump.
Working for nearly 10 years Patel summoned villagers to build scores of check dams, group wells, trenches, check walls and erect boribundhs (bags filled with sand) on Purna, Khapri, Ambika, Gira and Dhodhad rivers flowing in Dang district.
Lift irrigation schemes that benefitted 400 families were introduced with the financial support of a couple of foundations, NGOs and voluntary labour from the villagers.
“The check dams built by the State Government were in utter despair and served no purpose. We repaired 48 of them,” informs Patel. In Dang, Narmada and Bahruch people used to walk 3km to 4km daily to fetch water.
Villages like Amsarpada, Chikhali, Piplaidevi, Sabarpada, Zaran, Vadpada and Hindla, all in Dang district, witness severe water stress from March to June and water tankers provided drinking water.
Though the district received good rainfall, being a hilly region the water flowed to the plains. This led to a drinking water crisis.
"Some 15 years back, only 2 per cent of farmers took a winter crop but there are scores of them, all due to the efforts of the villagers,” informs Patel.
Patel’s efforts have turned many water-stressed villages into water-sufficient ones and its visible impact is evident on both ground and surface-water availability.