Village- Gualpani, GP- Nuapada, Block- Sinapali, Dist- Nuapada
A small village, Gualpani, is situated near the Cherepani forest of Nuapada gram panchayat of Sinapali block in Nuapada district, comprising 70 males and 80 females living in 43 households. The village has no school, and Anganwadi center to provide education, supplementary nutrition, health education, immunization, health check-up, and referral servicesto women and children. People residing in this village mainly maintain their livelihood through agriculture and daily wage labor.
As Chale Chalo has been working for water and livelihood security in this village since 2019, Mr. Barun Sunani, the field facilitator, is leading the community by forming Didi groups, and village water management committees. The team has been conducting regular meetings with them along with the Didi Groups, Jala Mitras, PRIs, SHGs, youths, farmers, villagers, service providers, and other stakeholders. During the meetings, Mr. Sunani discusses on the importance of water, the meaning of the water cycle, rainwater conservation and management measures, soil conservation, and forest regeneration, and shares the roles and responsibilities of the government departments in the village, like RWSS, forest departments, horticulture departments, agriculture departments, etc.
By attending regular discussions, training, workshops, campaigns, and actions, the Didi leaders realized that plantation and protecting forests is also one of the crucial measures of rainwater conservation and the trees can improve water quality by reducing soil erosion and managing the groundwater.
Through realizing this, the Didi members decided on the plantation in the Cherepani forest, for which they wrote an application for the demand with the support of Mr. Sunani and submitted it to the Palli Sabha. The Palli Sabha unanimously approved the plan for the plantation program.
After frequent visits of the team and Didi leaders and continuous interaction, the GP completed the formalities and the Panchayat Executive Officer, Mr. Bairagi Charan Das, issued the approval letter and work order for the plantation by the forest department as the implementing agency. In April 2023, the community people got the opportunity to work under MGNREGS by the forest department.
For the work, they have been suggested to dig 8,000 pits for planting seedlings with extra pits nearby to store and hold water and moisture for the plants with groundwater recharge. During June 2023, 8,000 plants of local suitable varieties such as Neem, Sisso (commonly known as rosewood tree), Karanja (Indian beech), Kardi, Kusum, Cashew, Sipo, Bamboo, Bija (Indian Kino tree), Blackberry, gooseberry, Baheda (Indian ayurvedic medicinal tree), and Sal tree got planted. Also, barbed wire fences are used to protect the plants to survive and grow.
The community people shared their happiness for their efforts in planning, demanding, getting approval, and undertaking plantation program important for water and livelihood security.