KARACHI, May 12: Work on an emergency basis was started by Baanhn Beli last week in the Ramji jo Wandio village, situated in Tharparkar, Sindh, on constructing 20 new water wells, installing 20 hand-pumps and two large Tarais (water reservoir ponds).
The work is being supported by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.
A large number of village men, women and children welcomed the founding president of Baanhn Beli, Javed Jabbar, at the launching ceremony.
The 42 new projects will be completed on an emergency basis during the next eight weeks.
These projects will help in storing precious rainwater, which can be used for several months.
These projects will be constructed at a cost of Rs2.53 million. Of this amount, 20 per cent will be contributed by the villagers through manual labour and 80 per cent by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund for materials and wages.
These projects will continue the process of development initiatives in the region being conducted by Baanhn Beli and will benefit a population of over 8,000 villagers in various settlements of Nagarparkar Taluka.
The Ramji jo Wandio village has 106 households with a total of 1,150 residents. The literacy rate for adult males is 7 per cent, while for females it is only 0.3 per cent.
The villagers have constructed a large one-room non-formal girls school under the joint initiative of Baanhn Beli and the World Food Programme. About 40 girls are enrolled there.
As the school has already met the criteria for recognition, it has been adopted by the Government of Sindh, which will now pay the salary of the teacher.
The founding president of Baanhn Beli, while addressing on the occasion, called for giving priority to girls’ education.
Earlier, Pirbhu Lal, the president of the Gyansagar Development Organization of the village, listed the development activities initiated in collaboration with Baanhn Beli and the World Food Programme.
A large number of members of Baanhn Beli residing in different parts of Sindh including Karachi, Hyderabad and Tharparkar were also present on the occasion.
The launching ceremony was one of the major highlights of a four-day monitoring visit from 3rd to 6th May, 2003 by the Baanhn Beli team to seven locations in Mithi and Nagarparkar Talukas. The sites and villages visited included Amrio, Layari, Kharo Dongra, Ramejowadio, Tobario, Nagarparkar and Mithi.
Hundreds of villagers participated in the meetings at all seven locations with enthusiasm and keen interest.
Village leaders called for provision of health care facilities and said special attention needs to be paid to the prevalence of TB and malaria in many villages.