Unlike other areas under WBADMIP, the story about Paruldaha is a bit different.The village is located in Baruipur Block of South 24 Paraganas district. Despite having abundant water from the monsoon rains and proximity to Suryapur Canal, requirement for irrigation still remained to a large extent particularly during Rabi when the season is mostly dry. The village was in a desperate need for a Water Structure to store the water from monsoonal rain and the canal for round the year use.
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| The bridge |
After recieving a mass petition from the local residents, WBADMIP project official included the village under its Water Detention Structure(WDS) scheme with a Command area of 85 Ha. Going by the the Project guidelines, a Water User Association was created with the name Paruldaha WDS Water User Association with 207 beneficiaries initially registering for its membership . Creation of the WUA infused a momentum to the community based activities in the village. Giving a fine example of participatory approach, members of the WUA collectively donated money to build a bamboo bridge over the WDS to connect to the field located in the other side of the Water Detention Structure.
‘We are very satisfied because our committee has been able to make a positive contribution for welfare of all the members. The acceptance and credibility of the committee among the members have enhanced after the initiative. It also reflects our collective ownership towards the sub-project.”, Secretary, Paruldaha WDS Water User Association.
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| Coriander Cultivation |
The story doesn't end here, apart from gearing up the community based activities,
support from the WBADMI project experts has spruced up the agricultural activities in the area. One of the notable development is increase in the "off-season" coriander cultivation , a short duration cash crop with a good economic return. It is becoming one of the lucrative business for the
traders and a profitable crop for the local farmers. The reason being, its cultivation starts from pre kharif till july when the demand is highest in the nearby Mandis of Kolkata. where the prices goes up to 350 INR per kilogram. With an average input cost of INR 112,000 in one Hactare, farmers are getting yield upto 70 quintals per hectare with a market value of INR 210,000(@ INR 300/kg) i.e a net profit of INR 90000 per hectare just over a period of 40 days.
(To know more about coriander cultivation, contact Agri Specialist, DPMU, South 24 Paraganas)
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