JEEWAN SANSTHA
From the Grassroots .........

Just sixty kilometres away form Pune  lies the catchment area of the Pawna dam.  The blue waters of Pawna Sagar are surrounded by historical forts of Tung-Tikona, Lohgarh-Visapur. This area of the Western Ghats is endowed with scenic beauty. However, life is very hard for the local people: no good hospitals, pucca roads, not even enough drinking water.  And this is so despite the fact that the peoples houses and fields  have been submerged under the waters of Pawna Sagar and the area  receives more than four hundred centimetres of rainfall.

The area is cut-off during the monsoon and the villagers have to trudge long distances to reach the nearest bus stand.  While  the modern city of Pune boasts of posh hospitals and specialists, here the umbilical cord was severed by a stroke of the sickle.

‘Jeewan’  Sanstha is an NGO of social workers committed to helping these unfortunate villagers.  It has constructed a health centre at village  Javan and has arranged for full-time medical services.  A health-education training programme for village mid-wives is underway.  The Sanstha organises health camps from time to time.  In addition a mobile clinic facility is provided to remote hamlets.

The NGO has also undertaken afforestation and soil and water conservation programmes on a large scale with the help of government departments and other voluntary organisations.  A comprehensive watershed development programme for the village Ajiwali and Shilimb is underway.  The ‘Centre fro Studies in the Western Ghats Development’  has been established.

There is no secondary school in these ‘trapped’ villages and the parents cannot afford  to send their children to far-off schools.  Therefore, the Sanstha has constructed a hostel at village Javan on the land donated by villagers.

For further details contact Jagdish Godbole, 6-Shree Apartment, 917/16, Ganeshwadi, Pune - 411004, Tel : 361239

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