Famine relief work in progress

Farmers at a meet
Food - grain supply to the needy

Famine of 1972-1973

Vast tracks of Maharashtra were stricken by famine in 1972-73, when not a blade of grass grew. Sangli District was among the worst affected areas. CASA Food-for-work came in handy. We provided gainful employment to 20,000 people in 6 eastern sub-divisions of the District for three months. The daily food wage of a worker was sufficient to feed five people, which meant nearly a lakh of persons were saved from hunger, if not starvation. This food for work programme was utilised for diversified activities till 1976 and it created 10,00,000 man-days of one-time employment. We also were directly concerned with the distribution of PROTEIN packets in the hundred villages of Khanapur Block.

In 2004 the eastern and northern parts of Sangli District were reeling under scarcity conditions, for the fourth consecutive year. In view of our limited capacity we decided to concentrate on the Alsund village cluster peopled by 20,000 souls. Our appeal for help evoked a very handsome response. We were able to collect Rs. 6,32,000/- in cash and kind (food grains). From March to June, 2004 we gave productive employment to 300 to 400 people. After the rains, we gave sorghum seeds to 600 farmers at one acre per family and wheat/gram seeds to 400 families. The farmers got bumper crops in both the seasons.

In 2005 many Kolhapur villeges devastated by floods. Our Alsund farmers rushed to their relief with tonnes of foodgrains.

 
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