In the heart of the Chhattisgarhprecisely in the village of Saja Pahad In India, there is a man who has transformed his own obstinacy in a source of life. Is called Shyam Laland for well 27 years worked in solitude, armed only of one hoeFor dig a pond in the middle of nothing. All this to respond to a dramatic water emergency which has always afflicted his community.
It all started when Shyam Lal had just 15 years. Faced with the indifference of institutions and the resignation of the inhabitants, he decided to act. He chose a point among the hills close to his village, without roads and electricityand began to dig. Day after day, season after season, she continued to hit the ground, challenging efficiency and general skepticism.
After 27 years his commitment gave concrete fruits: a basin of an acro, 4.5 meters deep, capable of collecting and preserving sufficient water for the livestock and the inhabitants of the village. The work has become fundamental, especially in a year marked by scarce rains and conditions almost drought throughout the district of Koriya.
He never received aid from anyone
Shyam lal from the local population. Only recently his company obtained the attention of the media and authorities: a local MLA has given him a symbolic recognition of 10,000 rupees (about 100 euros) while the district collector promised support interventions.
The case of Shyam Lel inevitably recalls another great example to memory: Dashrath manjhithe “mountain man” of the Bihar, who dug a transition between two hills to shorten the distances between the villages. Both are living examples of resilience, but also disturbing testimonies of theabsence of the state in some rural areas of India.
Shyam Lal is today celebrated as a model of altruism and determinationbut the question remains: because a simple citizen had to take on a task that would be up to public institutions? His story moves, inspires, but above all it makes us reflect on the urgency of concrete policies for forgotten areas of the world.
