Rotary Club of Bombay inaugurates Bhakta Adarsh Villages

The Rotary Club of Bombay (RCB), along with its partner Chirag Foundation, inaugurated its Bhakta Adarsh Village project on June 11, 2022, in and around Savade and Gadadhe Villages, just three hours from Mumbai.

Explaining the details of the large Integrated Village Development Project, RCB President Shernaz Vakil said, “This single project will help 12 villages and hamlets — home to over 2000 rural citizens in the Savade and Gadadhe gram panchayats in the Vikramgadh Taluka of Palghar District. The comprehensive intervention includes multiple solar-powered lift irrigation systems that will provide year-round water for irrigation as well as safe drinking water through the community ultrafiltration units and some individual filters provided to the villagers. This would improve health parameters as well as provide livelihoods, thereby mitigating migration to urban centres. In addition, home and street lights were provided wherever necessary. The intervention provides 7000 litres of drinking water per day, five education facilities on green energy, three solarised community and health centres and a total of 44 KW of solar power for change.”

Pratibha Pai Founder of Chirag Foundation, which was recently awarded the Green NGO of the Year at the prestigious IAA Olive Crown Awards, said “This particular intervention was special on account of its sheer scale and also due to the variety of innovations that were attempted successfully. The construction of the novel solar-powered Bhakta Women's Livelihood Centre can train and provide livelihood opportunities to over 100 women in Gadade Village. They would have access to computers, sewing machines and agro-ancillary machinery. The complete reconstruction of the Assembly Hall at the Kobadpada ZP school will provide access to engaged digital learning to 274 school children.”

As past President Preeti Mehta observed, “We are changing the face of rural India, one village at a time.”

The project commemorates the memory of the late legal luminary Mansingh L. Bhakta.