Pune residents to rebuild Uttarakhand village

After carrying out a comprehensive study on the prevailing condition of the people affected in the flood hit state, the members of the Rotary club of Pune Riverside have taken up a noble initiative and resolved to rebuild Parodi, one of the villages afflicted by the unprecedented catastrophe in Uttarakhand.

Taking stock: Members of Rotary club Pune Riverside interact with the villagers of Parodi in Uttarakhand during a recent visit

The destruction caused by the flash floods on June 16 has left the people of Uttarakhand helpless, homeless and devoid of any means to reclaim their past lives.

This idea to rebuild the village was born when a team of five members from the club visited Parodi in the Tehri district of Uttarakhand in October and engaged in an interaction with the villagers.

"We realised that just providing relief material is not the answer and will not fully serve the cause of rehabilitation.

What they need is a home and livelihood. So we decided to reconstruct Parodi and make it a model village," said Jitendra Palande, president of the club.

He said that the government of Uttarakhand has already approved the pilot project. "The government of Uttarakhand which will be our key partner in this project has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with our team and asked us to go ahead with the plan.

We have also shown the villagers the proposed model village plan and after their approval, recorded the contours of the proposed village," he added.

The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 7 crore. The endeavour will take two years for its completion.

While outlining the master plan for the model village, Deepak Gupta, secretary of the club, said, "It will be a pilot model village which can be duplicated in other districts across the state.

Our plan includes 120 earthquake-resistant houses of 500 sq-ft each, 1,500 sq-ft school for the children of Parodi, a new gram sabha house and a basic health facility for the community.

Other infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water supply and drainage system will also be built."

To collect funds for the project, the club has started a ‘Pune Builds Parodi' campaign and is urging citizens to contribute a minimum of Rs 100 to the cause.

"If each citizen contributes Rs 100, it will create sufficient funds for the project," said Palande. He said that corporate institutions could also come forward and donate for the cause.

"They can even adopt a home by donating an amount of Rs 5 lakh and contribute their share in this nation building process," he added.u00a0