Press Release
Inauguration of check dam for groundwater recharge, serves villages at Haryana and Rajasthan border
May 27, 2014
A check dam for groundwater recharge serving villages at Haryana and Rajasthan border has been inaugurated and handed over to the community today in a ceremony organized in the Rawli village in
Mewat, Haryana.
The check dam constructed in village
Rawli by the Sehgal Foundation for groundwater recharge has received grant support from the People and
Government of Japan.
, the project began on March 22, 2013 with an estimated cost of US $90,826 (Rs 48,59,191).
Sehgal Foundation worked with the local villagers and mobilized them for their participation in planning, designing, implementation and maintenance and monitoring to ensure project sustainability. The check dam has a catchment area of 0.65 square kilometers and the rainwater harvesting potential is 19 crore litres / year. A project beneficiaries committee named
“Sukkal Khola Jal Prabandhan Samiti” (Sukkal Khola Water Management
Committee) has been formed and trained to look after the operations and maintenance of the check dam. The committee is represented by 11 nominated members from beneficiary villages and has a corpus fund of Rs
45,694 for operation and maintenance collected from villagers.
The check dam inauguration in village Rawli was presided over by the chief guest Mr. Tamaki Tsukada, Economic Minister, Embassy of Japan in India and special guest Mr. R C Verma, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Mewat. Sub
Divisional Magistrate, Mr. Tarun Pavariya; Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Jane E
Schukoske and other staff from Sehgal Foundation, Project Coordinators Ms.

Rie and Ms. Aditi Sharma from the Embassy of Japan also participated. The entire village was present to witness the commissioning of the check dam.
DC, Mr. Verma, congratulated the villagers on this occasion and shared that this check dam can be a big help for the villagers especially the women of the surrounding villages.
Ms. Jane E. Schukoske, CEO of
Sehgal Foundation says, “Our goal is to work with the community to augment water for household, drinking and agricultural purposes. We believe that this step of constructing the check dam will help the communities in Rawli and other villages to improve management of water resources and will improve their daily lives.
The grant support from the People and Government of Japan has made this project possible. We look forward to more such partnership projects.”
According to Salahuddin Saiphy, Program Leader, Water Management at
Sehgal Foundation, “The overwhelming support from the community helped in the timely completion of the check dam. We expect that there will be a rise in groundwater table up to 6 meters post monsoon this year.”
Ramlal from Rawli village shared his concerns about the rapidly depleting water levels in the village and the water sources going saline. He recalled the dropping water level in the 75 tube wells in their village. The average groundwater level in the village is around 80 metres and drops further in the neighboring villages. Because of water scarcity, agricultural productivity had suffered.
Ramlal, who is also a member of the Sukkal Khola Jal Prabandhan Samiti is confident about the expected improvement in water levels and the resulting increase in farm yield. Ramlal’s tube well experienced an instant rise of 8.5 meter in groundwater level from June to September 2013 when the structure could only harvest partial monsoon. This year the structure will be able to harvest the entire monsoon. Three piezometres have been installed at four locations to monitor the increase in groundwater levels.

The community and the water committee members are very hopeful about the benefits that are likely to come through. The check dam directly serves the 3000 villagers in Rawli and over a period of 5-10 years, will impact about
15,000 people in the neighboring six villages in Haryana and Rajasthan states.
The villagers and the Panchayat (village council) of Rawli and Nangli villages in Firozepur Jhirka block of Mewat eagerly await the monsoon this year, which will bring happiness to them.
For further information, contact:
Tel: +91-124-474100
E mail: communications@smsfoundation.org
Web: www.smsfoundation.org