Current Projects

Rejuvenation of Narayanji Chaudhary Talab

One of the challenges is to get the waterbed of the pond dried, dried enough so that we can scoop out the dredge from it. The incoming water drainage from the neighboring household is not allowing it to happen. A team of experts came and visited the pond on Sunday 14 March, 2021.

Narayanji Chaudhary of Talab Bachao Andolan suggested to dig out a couple of wells around the ponds which may stop the water from spreading and consequently allow the rest of the bed to dried up faster.

Rejuvenation of Radkhakrishna Talab

North Bihar can boast of having more water than land. Besides many rivers flowing through it, the region is dotted with thousands of ponds known as Talab or Pokhar, some natural and some man-made.

History tells us that in the bygone era of Maharajas, digging a pond was considered to be auspicious work of the highest rank. A large number of wealthy people who could afford to have a Talab dug, did so. Besides the religious reasons, there was a respect for the environment.

3D printer hub:

We are setting up a hub at Bhattpura, Manigachhi of Darbhanga district of Bihar in collaboration with Hamilton Labs, Singapore. At the hub the 3D printer will print lich-pit toilet sets and low cost houses.

Under SBM more than 6,48,000 units of toilets needed to be built in order to declare the district of Darbhanga ODF. So far only 36,000 units have been built in more than past three years. In less than 2 years, more than 6 Lakhs more units are to be built. It seemed almost impossible to achieve for all the agencies involved.And this is just the case of one of the 700 districts of India. As per the government record only 100 districts have been declared ODF so far. Needless to state that close to 600 districts are facing the same crisis of having too little time to build too many toilets.

CRIA decided to bring the disruptive technology, 3Dprinter in for the solution. We got into an understanding with Hamilton labs, a Singapore based company. The first of its kind hub is being established at Manigachhi in Darbhanga District of Bihar.

Construction of Toilets

CRIA builds toilets for those who can’t afford to build one for themselves.CRIA has so far built more than 3000 toilet units across Darbhanga District.

In 2015, close to a year after the launch of Swachchh Bharat Mission by the Prime Minister NarendraModi, CRIA carried out a studyto know the state of open defecation in the Manigachhi block of Darbhanga District. It was learnt that the construction of new toilets under the SBM was not taking off on two accounts. The First and the foremost reason was the trust deficit between the local administration and the local people. Administration did not believe that the villagers have built the toilets, they claimed of. Nor did the villagers trust the administration’s pledge that they would pay for every toilet being built. This mutual distrust resulted into a murkier bribe give and take business. Hundreds of payments got made on paper against the unconstructed/fake toilets.

CRIA intervened and persuaded the district administration to stop payments against old toilets.

Later it was observed that a large section of the people wanted to have a toilet of their own. Majority of them were the Dalits, having no resources to spare for building one. CRIA came out with a solution.

We created a fund and roped in masons and suppliers of raw materials in our team. The idea was to construct toilets for those who are willing to have one but didn’t have the resources for the same. We mutually worked out an understanding that once the toilet is built, administration should come and verify the toilet. After the due verification payment should be made without any delay or kickbacks. It worked, phenomenally. We kept on rotating the fund and so far we managed to have built more than 3000 units of toilet. We call it Brahmpura Model.

Sanitary Pads

CRIA has set up a sanitary napkin making units at Manigachhi. Menstruation continues to be a big time taboo in rural India. During her period a woman is not supposed to touch anything of the household as she is perceived impure and cursed. It affects the young girls who go to in a big way.

In order to change the mind-set of the rural women and make life easier for school going girls, CRIA started making sanitary pads by collecting old and torn cotton clothes. Later with the CSR fund from the Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation (BELTRON)CRIA set up a Sanitary napkin making Unit at Manigachhi.

Rejuvenating Water bodies

Cleaning water-bodies such as dug-wells and ponds constitutes one of our major activities. The region of north Bihar is water rich but due to the mindless use of plastics and lack of its disposable mechanism these water bodies have been turned into dumping pits for garbage causing the ground water severely arsenic. Diseases such as liver cancer, skin lesions, skin cancer, and hard patches on the palms and soles of feet are on an all-time rise.

To create awareness about the importance of these dug-wells and ponds CRIA has undertaken several cleaning campaign. Collaborating with TalabBachaoAbhiyan and Nabarad, CRIA has taken up the task of rejuvenating the Radhakrishana Temple Talab of Brahmpura Village.

Solid Waste Management: CRIA is looking for a long -term collaboration with an agency/voluteersfor managing the Solid Waste.