When groundwater levels fell and the Manjra river dried, it had a telling effect on Latur’s needs.

LATUR: Trimbadasji Zavar (62) remembers how much fun it used to be to visit lush green Sai village on weekends where a Kolhapur Type (KT) weir across the Manjra river held enough water for a 7km stretch.

"I could stay close to nature and see the river flow. It was a popular picnic spot and people would enjoy boat rides," Zavar, a farmer, said.

Bad monsoon years and drought has laid to waste the only tourist centre set up in 1993 near Sai barrage, recalled S R Deshmukh, the then chief of the municipal council. "Nobody even looks at it now," he added.

When groundwater levels fell and the river turned dry, it had a telling effect on Latur's water needs. Citizens, realising that a rejuvenated Manjra is their only hope, formed Jal Jagruti Abhiyan - Jal Yukta Latur. The idea is to have enough water for the city, a pattern other drought-hit places can emulate.

Till some years, the city was famous for its Latur pattern, a method of studies that helped students do well in state board exams. The effort to revive Manjra was steered by Mahadev Gomare and Makrand Jadhav, both followers of spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art Of Living (AOL), began in February 2013. Both convinced sarpanchs in Marathwada to attend a three-day camp in Bengaluru.

Here, experts spoke to them about tackling water crises in their villages. The meeting didn't have the desired effect - there were conflicting voices and many doubted if the results would show. "We did not give up and decided to implement Guruji's concept in at least three villages," Gomare said. He now spends nearly 18 hours a day to ensure AOL's dream project in Latur comes true.

The project involves desilting 18km along the Sai barrage to increase its holding capacity to 18.5 million cubic metre. Latur requires 18.25 million cubic meter water per annum. Plans are to remove about 45 lakh cubic metre of silt. "In 2013, we succeeded in convincing people in three villages in Latur district to pool in money to carry out desilting work as well as construct low-cost Gabion structures to trap rain water,'' Gomare said.

This helped increase the water level in borewells and wells in surrounding villages and helped maintain the greenery. Gradually, more villages joined the movement. Though AOL funded a part of it, people contributed too. Thus, 50 smaller projects were completed through people's participation.

But a poor monsoon last year and a now-dry Manjra river have highlighted Latur for several wrong reasons.

Villagers now know about AOL's initiatives and its simple methods to rejuvenate the parched region - desilting nullahs, gabion structures and arresting rain water in rivers and rivulets. They are chipping in, Jadhav said.

A meeting on April 3 discussed the situation and the negativity it was attracting. The efforts bore fruit. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar gave Rs 1 crore for the project while citizens contributed with funds and sought support for the Rs 8-crore project.

The campaigners roped in district collector Pandurang Pole to inaugurate the works on April 8. "We have already collected Rs 3 crore while hundreds of people have made a commitment - of contributing Rs 5 crore for the work," said Gomare.

Employees' unions and those working in hotels as waiters have contributed too, he said. Nearly half the silt dug up has been taken away by farmers from 25 villages with an average 3,000 population each. "Farmers are taking the silt for Rs 100 to Rs 200 per truck voluntarily to strengthen soil fertility and level their fields,'' Prakash Suryavanshi, sarpanch of Arajkheda village, said. The village is situated close to the barrage.

Mohammad Sarfaraz Shaikh, senior geologist in Latur, countered fears that desilting may mess up the ecological balance. "Workers stop desilting as soon as the sand level shows up because sand holds the water. Silt formation may vary from place to place," he said.

Sachin Suryavanshi's village, Sai Arajkheda, is one of the 25 to benefit from the work. "Desilting will create enough space for water, and help increase the water table in our wells,'' he said

Gomare said they were creating three levels along the barrage where local species of trees will be planted. The first level will have cactus, the second will have bamboo trees while the third will have neem, mango, jamun and other fruit-bearing trees. Farmers from the 25 villages have agreed to provide the seeds and school children, farmers and activists will plant these trees, Gomare added. Darshak Hathi from Mumbai, who liaisons with Latur's citizens, told TOI Guruji had made an unscheduled visit to Latur's drought-hit areas. During his tour, he visited the Manjra river rejuvenation project site. "Guruji urged farmers to have faith and not commit suicide," Hathi said .

