Maha villagers use lockdown time to clean up old stepwell

Residents of a village inMaharashtra have utilised the lockdown period to clean up anold stepwell and raise the level of its water which is nowbeing used by locals for non-drinking purposes.

If found fit after testing, the water will also usedfor drinking, a local panchayat official said.

Located near a temple at Raipur village in Parbhanidistrict, about 200 km from here, the nearly 40-feet-deepstepwell had been lying unattended since a long time, localgramsevak Dattatray Padghan told PTI.

During the coronavirus-induced lockdown, some villagescame together and started cleaning it in April last year, hesaid.

''After about one-and-a-half months, it was fullycleaned and because of the removal of all the sand and debrislying inside, the water level has now been come to a depth of20 feet,'' he said.

If found fit, the water will be used for drinking inthe event of a scarcity, he said.

The villagers also contributed over Rs 30,000 todeploy a crane for the task of removing big stones and otherdebris from the stepwell, former Raipur sarpanch (villagehead) Gulab Gadekar said.

There is a hall located near the stepwell and watercollects over its terrace during rains.

Hence, the villagers plan to do rainwater harvestingthere and channelise the water to the stepwell during the nextmonsoon season, Padghan said.