Ambuja Cements has built a check dam across the Kalnoi river at Murshidabad in West Bengal which will supply water to six villages for 75 years.

The check dam aims to solve the problems related to water availability for people in the surrounding villages, which was acute, prior to its installation. Farmers in the district could not get adequate water for irrigating their crops, and people in general could not get enough water for drinking purposes.

The dam built in coordination with the local community in 45 days, has ten gates and two distillation gates with a storage capacity of 91,000 cubic meters of water which can store the water up to 10 kilometers upstream as the river bed gradient is very less, according to a press statement.

The dam enabled multi-cropping over 150 hectares of agricultural land in six villages, and can facilitate the operation of six lift irrigation systems. With water reaching some places for the first time because of the check dam, all land in the region has become cultivable and upto 10,000 households can receive drinking water from the check dam.

The company’s technical team of four members designed the check dam after analysing the rainfall data and flash flood possibilities. A site was zeroed in after collaborating with the village leaders, stated the release.

“Such interventions have the power to lift people, families and entire communities out of poverty and give them a prosperous future. Furthermore, if people are to think about development and contribute to the nation, then their basic needs like water must be met. Taking all these factors into consideration, we built a dam that can serve the long-term needs of the community, for the next 75 years at least,” Neeraj Akhoury, CEO India Holcim and MD & CEO of Ambuja Cements Ltd., said in the statement.

(The writer is an intern with Business Line Kolkata)

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