Volkswagen India has completed the construction and repair work of three bandharas and desilting of the existing nala (water channels) in the drought-affected Naiphad village, and handed over the project to the gram panchayat.

Started last year as an activity to improve water storage capacity in the drought-affected village, the German automaker had, as a part of its CSR, committed Rs 51 lakh towards construction of two new bandharas, repairing another and desilting of an existing nala in Naiphad.

Located about 60 km from the Volkswagen plant at Chakan, Naiphad was chosen as part of State government’s ‘Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan’. This is the second village after Gulani, Khed, where VW India has undertaken a project to overcome the scarcity of water, it said in a statement.

The entire project was completed by VWI in April and was handed over to the Gram Panchayat last week.

Dr. Andreas Lauermann, President and Managing Director, VW India Private Limited, said, “The government of Maharashtra’s initiative to make Maharashtra drought-free by 2019 is an extremely important and ambitious initiative. The water scarcity faced by villages in Maharashtra is not only affecting the daily life of the villagers but more importantly the agricultural activities which are the backbone of their economy. Through our efforts, we are increasing the water reserves in Naiphad and we expect this to be of help for irrigation of the fields.”

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