Report on Handover Ceremony o f “Gabrua PSF s ”

Date of Report: 13 July 2008
Reported by: Md.Al-Amin Mollah
Admin & Accounts Officer

A grand ceremony was held at Gainebari Cyclone Shelter in Gabura Union on 12 July 2008 t o hand over four pond sand filters ( PSFs ) to LEDARS and then to four U sers C ommittee s. The four PSFs were constructed under the supervision of AAN with donations collected in Japan and Bangladesh to supply safe drinking water in Gabura Union where people were badly affected by the cyclone Sidr in November 2007. The handover ceremony was organized by LEDARS and Gabura U nion P arishad and presided over by U nion C hairman of Gabura .

There were 65 participants altogether, including the following people:

•  Mr. Dilip Kumar Banik, U pazila N irbahi O fficer (UNO), Sh y amnag a r, Satkhira, as Chief Guest

•  Mr.Yoshihiro Shimotsu, D irector G eneral , AAN Japan , as S pecial G uest

•  Mr. Shafiqul Azam Lalin, C hairman of Gabura U nion P arishad

•  Mr. Ashek Elahi, President, NGO Coordination Committee in Satkhira district

•  Mr. G. M . Nowsher Ali, former Chairman of Gabura U nion P arishad

•  Mr. Md. Abdus Samad, Headmaster of Gopal Laxmi Memori al High Sch o ol

•  Mr. Harunor Rashid , Secretary , PSF # 1 Users Committee

•  Mr. Rafiqul Islam , President , PSF # 2 Users Committee

•  Mr. Abdus Samad Sardar, President , PSF #3 Users Committee

•  Mr. Shahidullah Gazi , President , PSF # 4 Users Committee

•  Mr. Mohon Kumar Mondol, E xecutive D irector , LEDARS

•  Mr. Md. Abu Shamim Khan, Operation Manager, AAN

•  Mr. Md. Al-Amin Mollah, Admin &Accounts Officer, AAN

•  Mr. Md. Mezbaul Islam, Research Associate, AAN

•  Mr. Md. Ruhul Quddus, Site Engineer, AAN

First, Mr. Shafiqul Azam Lalin, C hairman of Gabura U nion P arishad , thanked Mr.Yoshihiro Shimotsu, D irector G eneral of AAN , for arrang ing safe water for Gabura people. He also thanked LEDARS for having select ed Gabura to install PSF s by AAN , support ing people to form Users Committees, and finally arranging the handover ceremony which commemorates all the success .

Mr. Mohon Kumar Mondol, E xecutive D irector of LEDARS introduced their activities explain ing that their themes cover livelihood security, human rights, environmental preservation, good governance, among others, as well as water and sanitation.

After stating that PSF i s a very good system to purify pond water , M r . Ruhul Quddus, Site Engineer of AAN , told U sers C ommittee members to maintain their PSF properly, as he had taught some user member s how to operat e and maint ai n during the construction. He added that p ond water has n either arsenic nor iron but it is contaminated with bacteria . He emphasized that it was important to chlorinat e regularly to protect themselves from bacteria . He also advised to pour water in by pumping during collecting water from the tap, to close the tap firmly after the water collection, and to clean the surrounding area including drain and platform every day. He further explained occasional maintenance work such as gravel washing and shaving off the top of sand layer by 1 to 2 cm, and stressed the importance of regular water quality test for coli form, turbidity and others.

Four dossiers of documents consisting of land and pond donation agreement, water quality report, expenditure report, etc. were handed over by Mr. Yoshihiro Shimotsu of AAN to Mr. Mohon of LEDARS. Then, each dossier was handed over as follows:

Mr. Dilip Kumar Banik (UNO) ? PSF #1 U sers C ommittee;

Mr. Ashek Elahi ? PSF #2 U sers C ommittee; Mr. Shimotsu ? PSF #3 U sers C ommittee;

Mr. Shafiqul Azam Lalin ? PSF #4 U sers

C ommittee .

M r . Abu Daud Gazi , member of PSF #2 Users Committee in Parshemari village, commented in his address that this type of PSF produces water of good quality . He said he was drinking safe water for the first time in his life and he requested AAN to install more PSF s in his locality.

Mr. Abdus Samad Sardar , President of PSF #3 Users Committee in Gabura village, reported that everyday about 200 to 300 people were taking water from the PSF and requested to install one PSF for 250 families in the neighbouring Kholpetua village , also, while thank ing AAN and LEDARS for providing a safe water unit in his village .

Mr. G. M . Nowsher Ali , f ormer Chairman of Gabura , said that t here wa s no tube well for 37 , 000 people in Gabura and that w ater wa s the greatest problem in the southern part of the country, where people we re facing a lot of problems to collect safe water , because they ha d to walk a bout 2 to 3km . He, too, request ed AAN and UNO to arrange more safe water for Gabura people , while expressing his glad ness to have the four PSF s of high technology installed in Gabura .

M r . Abdus Samad , Headmaster of Gopal Laxmi Memorila (GLM) High Schhol , explained how difficult it was for Gabura people to get safe water since f rom Chaitra month to Baishakh month (= from middle of March to middle of May) pond s dried and safe water became not available. He request ed UNO and AAN to visi t his area and install ten PSF s for Gabura people.

M r . Abu Shamim Khan , Operation Manager of AAN , requested U sers C ommittee members for proper maintenance of PSF to keep it active to obtain safe drinking water all the time . He spoke about the importance to collect user share s for future maintenance stressing that each U sers C ommittee member is the owner of the respective PSF. He also advised them to keep safe water source s properly for the sake of future generations.

M r . Shafi q ul Azam La l in , Chairman of Gabura U nion Parishad, thanked AAN through UNO on behalf of Gabura people. However, he said that four PSF s were not enough and requested AAN to install 22 more PSFs to achieve the 100% coverage of safe water supply in his union. He committed at th e ceremony that U nion Parishad will bear maintenance cost of those four PSFs . He told that it wa s necessary to re-excavat e the pond s to keep more water and also repair the connecting road s to PSF so that people can collect safe water more easily . He also expressed his opinion that it would be possible to install deep tube wells in Gabura and Gelekhali to supply safe water by pipeline, and that then he would allocate maintenance cost from UP fund. He requested AAN more water supply activities in his Union with LEDARS.

Mr. Dilip Kumar Banik , UNO of Sh y amnag a r , f irst thanked LEADRS for work ing in Gabura and then thank ed AAN for install ing four PSFs in Gabura. “ Japan is a friend country of Bangladesh ” , he said and asked to give continued support and install more safe water devices in Gabura. He also thank ed Union C hairman for taking care of the whole matter properly .

Addressing the people by saying “ Assalam alaikum , everybody ”, Mr. Yoshihiro Shimotsu , D irector G eneral of AAN Japan , explained that he c a me Gabura to hand over those PSFs which were install ed by Japanes e assistance. After the cyclone Sidr in November last year, he continued, Japanese people saw devastating damages in the cyclone-hit areas on TV and many of them were concerned with the miseries. AAN has installed many PSFs in arsenic-affected areas and they are popular among consumers. Having learned that t he r e was safe water cris i s in Gabura, we decide d to install PSF s here. In Japan we have four or five typhoons every year but we do no experience huge damages to crops or house s like the cyclone Sidr in recent years . Yes, about 50 years ago a very big typhoon destroy ed small houses and crops killing about 3 , 000 people . Your calamity reminded us of the typhoon of 50 years ago, and we wanted to support you. Two Rotary C lubs in Japan and about 100 Japanese people donated funds to install th o se four PSFs in Gabura. If you use th o s e PSF s and maint ain them properly for a long time in future, then we will be happy. Finally , he thank ed LEDARS, Union P ar i shad, U sers C ommittee s , mason s and all the supporter s who contributed to the PSF install ation, hop ing that those PSFs will further enhance the friendship between Bangladesh and Japan .

Mr. Ashek Elahi , President of NGO Coordination Committee in Satkhira , started his address by saying that w ithin the next 20 years this area w ould go down under water and that shrimp culture would not be possible due to entrance of salin e water. He advised the audience that during the forthcoming general election campaigns people had to remember to tell the candidate s not go for shrimp culture any more . We have to pressure to cultivate paddy. In this region there are four problems to get safe water ; namely, a rsenic, i ron, s alinity, and layer. For this reason he was opposed to using groundwater. He said that more people would benefit i f they install ed more PSF s at low cost . He also warned people to be mentally prepare d for the next natural calamity .

In the v ote of t hanks, Mr. Mohon of LEDARS emphasized that the handover of safe water device s mean t the handover of responsibilities , too, to users. He said, “ Y ou are responsible to use the PSF water for drinking and cooking purpose s , and to maintain the PSF properly ” . Then, he reported that the construction cost was budget ed at Tk . 170,000 per PSF, but actual expenses we re as follows:

P SF No . 1 T k. 126,389

P SF No . 2 T k. 12 2 , 1 38

P SF No . 3 T k. 1 1 6, 856

P SF No . 4 T k. 1 13 , 546

Mr. Mohon also reported that e very U sers C ommittee ha d a bank A/C with Krishi Bank Sh y amnag a r branch. He thank ed U sers C ommittee s support ing the project to install PSF s and extended his thanks to Union P arishad and School authorit ies to arrange the handover ceremony. Finally , he thank ed UNO, D irector G eneral of AAN Japan , members of U nion P arishad, j ournalist s and all other people who we re present at the handover ceremony.

? A long queue is made to fetch water from PSF

No. 1 at Laxmikhali village every day. (Photo

was taken on April 8, 2008 )