Governance
An open well revivial in Padiabadmal village, Orissa
Reviving the well was not a reactive initiative by the villagers. Rather it was a most calculated one planned in advance to create a contingency buffer to mitigate vulnerabilities
A story from NGO MASS on successfully reviving an open well in Padiabadmal village in Orissa, that had been neglected for two decades. In a tube-well dependent drinking water supply system, an initiative by people of Padiabadmal, a tribal inhabited village in Western Orissa, has come as a refreshing fresh water splash. Driven by declining trust in tube wells, the villagers decided to clean up an abused and abandoned well. It is not that their village has no tube wells. But, they have less faith in the abilities of tube wells to address their drinking water emergencies. As a consequence, after almost two decades, a well has again thronged back to its role as a life sustaining source.