He is no less than Rain God to parched Rajkot villagers

Upleta (Rajkot): As soon as Premji Patel’s car enters Meshpur village in Rajkot district, people rush to give him a warm welcome. The reason — the octogenarian has made it his mission to bring water to parched villages using check dams. He has been instrumental in building 1,600 check dams in 27 villages in Rajkot district. For villagers, Premji Patel, better known as Premjibapa, is no less than God. “He has changed our lives entirely by helping us construct 45 check dams in our village,’’ says Meshpur sarpanch Rajendrasinh Jadeja. “Before he came to our village, we were facing acute shortage of drinking water and had to rely on government tankers. Now, farmers harvest three crops a year,’’ he adds. Each month, Premji donates Rs 50,000 and has contributed Rs 1.5 crore so far to this cause. He also provides free cement to farmers through his Vruksh Prem Seva Trust to construct check dams. His son is an industrialist in Ahmedabad who supports his father’s efforts financially. Says Premji, “According to government guidelines, there has to be an engineer to construct a check dam. But, I believe that farmers are rustic engineers and can best decide the site for a check dam, using their traditional knowledge.” The government’s ‘Watershed’ programme to build check dams is based on public partnership. People have to contribute at least 10 per cent. However, he has managed to get 20, and even 30 per cent contribution from villagers. As farmers benefit greatly from check dam construction, they are more than willing to chip in. And, this has increased the scale of work greatly. “I could barely earn Rs 45,000 from my 10 acres of land before 2003. Now, I earn Rs 3 lakh a year. Landless labourers no longer need to migrate from our village as they are able to find employment in construction of check dams,’’ says villager Ramesh Kandoria. “Earlier, farmers in our village had to migrate to cities like Surat for livelihood. They had land, but no water. But now, this has stopped, thanks to Premjibapa’s efforts,’’ says Girdhar Satasiya of Boriya village. At least, 20 youngsters who had found employment in Surat’s diamond industry have returned as they feel they can earn better from agriculture and have a better life in their own village, Satasiya adds. A distributor for a big textile unit, Premji Patel moved from Upleta taluka, 350 km from Ahmedabad, to Mumbai. But, unhappy with the lifestyle in the metro, he retired from business in 1987 and plunged into afforestation and water harvesting projects in Upleta.