Pragya Paramita finds out from Rajashi Mukherjee how nearly six months after Cyclone Aila ravaged Bengal, 30 spirited village folk still continue their work of repairing tube wells and desalinating water bodies

Last week a group of people was felicitated in the city for their tireless help in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila. These simple villagers from South 24-Parganas single-handedly went around repairing waterbodies and tube wells that had been destroyed in the cyclone thereby enabling countless villagers to get fresh water when most of the other villagers were inundated by saline water.

Rajashi Mukherjee, country coordinator for Water for People, an NGO that trained these people, said: "They were taught how to repair and maintain the waterbodies in their villages through the Jalabandhu workshop that was conducted and the village community would pay them money for repairing the waterbodies. In this way they were able to earn money and they were also taught how to spread awareness about hygiene and cleanliness."

While touring the villages and repairing the water sources had been a part of their job, it really was after the cyclone that they set out to help the people. While the other NGOs and government officials were still struggling to reach the far-flung villages, these villagers went around repairing and desalinating the water resources thus helping villagers get back their source of fresh water. While the other villagers were struck with water-borne diseases, these villagers slowly helped around 40 to 45 villages get back to their feet by providing them with clean and safe drinking water.

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