Mandsaur Ayurveda doctor turns 'water man' for 11 villages

MANDSAUR: One man's herculean efforts to carve out a path through a mountain might have inspired Bollywood movie Manjhi. But efforts of this Mandsaur Ayurveda doctor can be considered no less.
Anil Joshi of Fetehgarh village in Mandsaur district has turned many drought-stricken villages into well-irrigated ones by constructing check dams across 11 villages in three years.
With a dream to build 100 such check dams in nearby villages in Madhya Pradesh, which persisitently experience droughts, Joshi has now turned into a full-time water conservationist.
The journey started when Joshi's village in 2008 faced the worst drought and water scarcity made life difficult for farmers. He felt that building a check dam across River Somli would help villagers as it would raise the ground water table. When Joshi shared the idea of constructing check dams with local farmers, they laughed at him. He, however, was undeterred and went ahead with his plan.
In 2009, he borrowed about a thousand empty cement sacks from a friend and filled them with sand and stood in the middle of Somli River, stopping stopped the water to some extent.
Within a few days it rained and there was water in the check dam, which in turn recharged ground water in surrounding areas. The hand pumps that had run dry began to yield water again. The farmers were happy as farms got irrigated and there was a good crop.
Elated by his success, Joshi stumbled upon the idea of taking one rupee from each villager for constructing a permanent check dam across Somli. He felt such a dam would permanently end drought in the village.
Joshi was able to collect Rs 36 in just three hours on the first day, as he went from door-to-door seeking support. The next day's collection was Rs 120. However, people began to question his motive for collecting money from the people. Joshi and his dedicated team collected Rs one lakh in three months and a permanent check dam was built at a cost of Rs 92,000. The villagers voluntarily provided their labour.
After the success at Fatehgarh, Joshi helped build eleven more check dams on rivers and 'nullahs' (smaller channels of water) in eleven villages in a 10 km radius of Fatehgarh including two in Fatehgarh, Ladusa, Nagri, Dhundhadka, Babrecha, Bani, Zolkhedi and four in Dhamnar.