Something genuinely interesting is happening in Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh right now and honestly it deserves more attention than it is getting. The second phase of 'Mor Gaon Mor Pani' campaign has been launched in July 2026 and scale of work already done is not small thing at all .
So far over 2,500 contour trenches have been constructed across district . And one village alone,Sarima village,has 1,000 of those trenches built within it . That number honestly surprised me when I first read it.
For people who don't know what contour trenches actually do,the idea is simple but very effective . Instead of letting rainwater just run off into drains or rivers,these trenches slow it down and allow water to seep into ground . This recharges groundwater levels naturally and also reduces soil erosion over time . For rural areas that face water scarcity every single season,this kind of intervention can genuinely change things.
And environmental benefit is only one side of this story .
What makes this initiative stand out is that it is also generating real employment for local residents through VB-GRAM G Scheme which focuses on rural employment generation . Workers involved in trench construction have reported increased local wages,giving them better financial stability . And because of this,migration rates are apparently dropping as people are choosing to stay in their own villages instead of moving to cities for work .
Three things worth highlighting from this project:
- Over 2,500 contour trenches constructed across Balrampur district with 1,000 in Sarima village alone.
- Workers under VB-GRAM G Scheme reported increased wages and improved financial stability.
- Rising local employment is reducing migration from villages to urban areas.
Collector Chandan Sanjay Tripathi has been overseeing this project and his quote really stuck with me . He said,"This initiative not only addresses the immediate issue of water scarcity but also empowers local communities by providing them with employment and a sustainable livelihood." . And honestly that framing feels right because when you solve water problem and employment problem together,the impact on community life is completely different.
Most government water projects focus only on infrastructure and forget the human side completely . This one seems to be trying to hold both together at same time .
Whether this model can actually scale to other districts in Chhattisgarh and beyond is the real question now . The ingredients seem right,community involvement,employment creation,environmental sustainability . But execution at larger scale is always where things get complicated…
And for villages that have been losing young people to cities for decades,whether few thousand contour trenches can genuinely reverse that trend or just slow it down slightly,that part is still unclear.
