Laungi Bhuyian - the real waterman of India

Laungi Bhuyian dug a canal for 20 years to bring water to his village

The greatest of evolution happens when you have very little resources, but a great determination to fulfil your desire. Many years ago Dasrath Manjhi, known as ‘Mountain Man’ carve a path of 110 m long, 9.1 m (30 ft) wide and 7.7 m deep through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and chisel. After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km. This Mountain man has inspired people like Laungi Bhuiyan to get rainwater to the dry fields in his remote village in Gaya district. It took him years to complete his dream.

Perseverance is the key to be successful. After Manjhi, Laungi Bhuyian proved this sentence right. Nearly for 30 years, he created a 2-km long canal, so that his village can get water to yield more crop. His hardwork was recognised by industrialist Anand Mahindra, who compared him to Dasrath Manjhi, the ‘Mountain Man’ and presented him tractor to complete his dream.

Under Bankebazar block Bhuiyan’s village Kothilwa is a remote forested and hilly region where irrigation was next to impossible and as a result most of the villagers migrated in search of work, but nobody thought of doing something sustainable in village so that those you were not able to leave the place can get benefitted.

Here is where Bhuiyan stood up. According to him for livelihood he used to rear goats and collect wood from the forest to sell in the market. But along with this whenever he used to get time, he would take out his spade and would start levelling the soil.

Kothilwa village is surrounded by dense forest and mountains, about 80 km away from Gaya district headquarters. This village is marked as a shelter for Maoists. People here do farming and animal husbandry for livelihood.

Bhuiyan added, “There are two rivers — Morhar and Surhar in the area. During rainy season water that overflowed from these rivers accumulated in traditional sources of irrigation like aahar and paiyn. But due to sand mining, the level of these rivers gets deeper than aahar and paiyn. So the rainwater was getting scattered and unutilized. This is when he thought of carving out a canal. He worked hard in order to save water coming from the mountains and utilise it.

For the past 20 years he did the digging, that too single-handedly. Villagers and his family members used to call him mad, as he used to dig rocky surface for 2-3 hours a day. No one supported him, but he was determined to do something for everyone’s benefit.

Notably, Bhuiyan man has carved out a three-kilometre-long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to fields of his village, Kothilawa in Lahthua area of Gaya.

Finally his efforts got noticed and Industrialist Anand Mahindra acknowledged his hard work and gifted him tractor so that he can accomplish his social work. Although due to effort by Laungi, around 100 acres of land in the area can be irrigated now. But still there is long way

to go. Today Bhuiyan is regarded as a “Super Hero” for others as he has done something for the benefit of entire area.