NGO’s Check Dam Sustains Farming, Tribal Life in Nilgiris Village

Ooty: The efforts taken by Rural Development Organisation (RDO Trust), an NGO based at Aruvankadu near here, to build a check dam has helped to sustain agriculture, tribal and wildlife during the scanty Southwest Monsoon season in the Nilgiris.

Following a severe monsoon failure in a region that usually receives around 1,500 mm of annual rainfall, farmers across the Nilgiris faced huge losses. After investing heavily in April and May to prepare land and sow seeds for crops like carrots, potatoes, garlic, and beans, the lack of rain in June left crops dry and farmers empty-handed. The crisis hit the Bokkapuram area in the buffer zone limits of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve particularly hard, affecting local tribal families who rely almost entirely on rain-fed cultivation of millets, chillies, and vegetables.

In response to the drought conditions, the NGO constructed a check dam at Thottalingi village near Bokkapuram, with the financial support of Supraja Foundation. Despite its compact dimensions (10 feet in length and 4 feet in height), the dam successfully holds back water over a stretch of 250 meters length.

Over the past three months, the project helped in harvesting of nearly 10 million litres of water, proving to be a vital water resource during severe dry conditions. The initiative allowed tribal farming families to irrigate their crops in 42 acres of farm lands and secure their livelihoods and provided water for tribal hamlet sanitation. Moreover, wild animals, especially elephants, frequent the check dam to drink water.

Building on the overwhelming success of the Thottalingi dam, the RDO Trust officially decided to construct additional check dams in Bokkapuram area to further protect the local ecosystem and agrarian community from future droughts.