Adopt a Village by Standard Chartered Bank- Kharsan, Rajasthan
Picture Courtesy: Radhe Shyam Ji
Coronavirus has globally impacted the lifestyle of the people overall. No doubt many of us have changed and showed improvements in our day to day activities to stay healthy.
Today I am going to talk about some positives changes adopted by the people of Kharsan, Rajasthan to have safe drinking water. Kharsan is one of the locations adopted by Standard Chartered Bank under its health CSR initiative. Piramal Sarvajal is the implementing partner to provide safe, affordable and accessible drinking water to the underserved.
While conversing with our operator Mr. Radhe Shyam on how he reinforced his consumers to take Sarvajal Facility regularly is highly insightful. He narrates, "March se ab tak 15 naye card ban gaye hai mai yaha ek hi cheez bolta hu sabko ki saaf safai ke sath sath hume saaf paani bhi lagataar peete rehne ki zarurat hai"
During the conversation, he shared, “whoever is coming across I am trying to explain the situations that the entire nation is facing and we need to fight this together. The raw water TDS is more than 1300 which I regularly update to my costumers and others that it's not safe to drink especially in these difficult times."
Figure 1 Consumers sanitise their utensils before filing water and cover their
mouth to reduce the risk of being infected
While continuing conversing with him, I couldn't control myself to ask him about what changes he has personally seen in his life during the lockdown. He then laughed and very calmly said “it is now inbuilt in me that no matter what, I have to clean the plant and sanitize the ATM regularly. I never imagined that this habit is going to sustain but now it's happening naturally and I feel good about it that I am doing something to contribute in my community.”
About the consumers, he explains that many of them have started having a feeling that this facility is set up for us then why to go outside the village and bring water when we have the facility with health security as the plant is sanitised regularly.
One of the consumers shared "ye bohot accha hai ki is kathin paristhiti mai humare gaon mai ye suvidha hai jisse hum kabhi bhi paani le sakte hai" It is a matter of pride for them to have Sarvajal affordable and safe drinking water facility in their village.
Figure 2 Consumers sanitise their utensils before filing water and cover their mouth to reduce the risk of being infected
I ended with the same by congratulating him for his efforts and shared the improvement in the water off-take by comparing April production from May water production. (March- 19212 litres and May- 34097 litres) There is a remarked improvement by 77% which is commendable.
He acknowledged and happily said “madam abhi toh bhi bhadega ab log jagruk ho rahe hai samajh rahe hai ki paani bhi saaf lena hi hai, agar is paristhiti se majbooti se ladna hai toh”
Figure 3 Sarvajal Enterprise Management System shows litre dispense of May month
By sharing his experiences around the consumers it was evident that with his consistent efforts and community engagement has remarkably increased the responses. Community is now adopting safe and healthy lifestyle habits.
