Dangarwadi, a small village atop one of the remotest hills in Maharashtra was in dire need of the basic living amenities – water. Nasir Shaikh, the General Manager of Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan along with his team identified the village and after interactions with the village residents, facilitated the installation of solar-powered water pumps in this parched village that enabled water to be pumped from the well directly into their houses.
This wasn’t just any other social responsibility project – this was a labor of love for Nasir and the team of Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan. The only source of water for the Dhangarwadi residents was a well to which access is extremely laborious. For years, the women of the village were expected to undertake the daily tedious walk of 600 meters as the crow flies and more when you measure the path that is taken to the well to cart the water for the daily chores and then walk back home the same distance with the load. During the monsoons, it is even more difficult as the mud softens and they need to do the same trek knee deep in wet mud. This daily wearisome ritual has led to the women suffering from severe back and spinal ailments. After thorough research and scrutiny of the dire water issue at the grassroots level, the team zeroed in on helping the residents of this village. And within the span of a week, the solar-powered pumps were fixed and functioning resulting in direct access to water quickly and efficiently; and this has saved women and children from the painstaking daily trek. Also the women carting water while treading the uneven path back from the well was resulting in a lot of water wastage – through the solar pumps, the issue of water conservation has also been addressed.
One of the villagers shares, “We are facing issues which cannot be imagined. Our lands are barren in summer. Water supply which has always been an issue is now finally solved by the kind people at Courtyard Chakan; we are indeed grateful to them.”
Nasir and the team visited the village to ensure proper execution of the plan. They interacted with the villagers of Dangarwadi and supervised the activity. “The General Manager himself oversaw the project and he also ate lunch with us. We are deeply obliged to the entire team!” expressed one of the villagers.
Helping Courtyard Chakan along the way with this initiative was the team of Atom Solar. Nitin who assisted with the installation of the pumps says, “We planted solar panels which are of 50 volts and collectively 600 volts. This is the input required to convert DC power into three phases.”
Nasir explains, “With the support of Atom Solar, we made the well water  easily accessible to the village using renewable energy, once the power is converted it goes to the submersible pump underneath the well and that powers the water through the pipe and reaches the villagers.”
This CSR activity is a solar revolution that has not only focused on solving the water issue in the village but also the well-being of the villagers. Now, the people can have water for drinking as well as for other day-to-day needs and farming too. It will also eliminate the problem of women with hunch backs and joint issues due to carrying water all the way up the hill; and children can go to school without worrying about daily water needs. We are also now working with the villagers on how they can implement water conservation tools and methods. This amazing contribution to one of the major crisis in the state of Maharashtra is inspiring initiative by Courtyard by Marriott Pune Chakan and a small step in supporting the tremendous efforts taken by the government in solving the problems arising from water scarcity and drought.
