Kutch Nav Nirman Abhiyan

Partial support to the earthquake affected house owners for house construction in Bhuj town

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:56:25 +0000

The Government had introduced Development Plan and Town Planning Schemes in all the four towns which sets guidelines for the city’s development over a decade and reducing congestion in the old city. Similar to the rural reconstruction, the housing in urban areas were also undertaken with an owner driven approach, with Government providing financial assistance, technical guidance, material specifications and technical supervision for building earthquake resistant houses; and people doing construction on their own. The Government housing assistance was given in 3 installments – 40% as first installment, 30% at the lintel level of construction and the remaining 30% at finishing stage of construction. The first installment was released in the beginning of 2002, however as the Development Plan and the town planning were under process, building construction permissions were delayed till Feb2003. In many cases, people had spent the first installment (40% of the total Housing Assistance) of the government assistance to meet their other needs like medical needs or resetting their livelihood; and so did not have enough money to reach the lintel level of construction, where they can get the second installment. In such circumstances, there was a need to extend a partial support to such families in terms of material or cash, so that they can access the second installment for construction. With the support from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 81 such families have been supported.

Strengthening local capacities – the rural youth training

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:53:45 +0000

Creating a cadre of rural youth in social work management was envisioned as one of the core activities of Abhiyan right from its inception as a network. Kutch being a disaster prone area, many voluntary organizations come to work in the region from outside. To cater to the felt need for a cadre of local community workers, a training program was initiated, which not only aimed at capacity building of rural youth but also at inculcating a developmental attitude in them. A participatory training methodology was designed with the help of resource persons and experts of various subjects. Many of these trainees are now active community mobilizers in the Setus (network of cluster level facilitation centres that emerged as a response to the earthquake).

Saving the trees through Tree Transplantation

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:24:24 +0000

Post the 2001 earthquake, the Government had introduced the Development Plan. This plan involved widening of roads in the city which involved cutting of the roadside trees. With an effort to save the trees, in 2003, a proposal was submitted to the Government either to transplant the trees or to design the roads in such manner so that the trees are placed in the centre lane of the roads. One of the most important considerations for the transplantation was the arid soil of Bhuj and there was no previous experience of transplantation in Kutch area. The extreme urgency of moving these trees left a limited time on hands to “prepare the trees” for the transplants. Lack of technology at local level was a further constraint. This was overcome by providing the expertise from the Garden Department of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. The root ball was maintained to the extent possible while removing the trees and secured by wet jute cloth. The trees were relocated in the same area, to the extent possible and very few trees were relocated in the distance beyond 1 KM from the original place. A total of about 340 trees were transplanted out of which about 50% still survive.

Panchayat driven housing for the poor

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:17:48 +0000

3 villages under Kamaguna Juth Panchayat were completely left out during the reconstruction work post the 2001 earthquake. After a constant relation building with the Panchayat members and the community, 30 houses were constructed for the selected most vulnerable families in these 3 villages. The whole reconstruction process including the financial management was undertaken and implemented by the Kamaguna Group Panchayat under the able leadership of Hawaben Mamad Traya, the then Sarpanch. Adding to this, the Panchayat’s mobilization and thereafter contribution by the community led to a saving amount thus used in catering to other specific needs of the villages like setting up of community halls in 2 villages and drinking water pipeline in one village.