New laser camera system set up on expressway in Sri Lanka

A new water supply system has proved very useful for the tribal-dominated Ghatol block of Banswara district in Rajasthan. Earlier, the tribals had to go long distances to fetch potable water.

The community-based water supply system operated by villagers in the tribal-dominated Ghatol block has ensured hassle-free functioning of hand-pumps providing safe drinking water and made life easier for women. The water and sanitation interventions under an integrated project - Aapno Swasthya Aapne Haath (Our Health In Our Hands) - launched by advocacy group 'Save the Children' have brought about a radical change in the lives of rural communities in 60 villages, covering over 11,400 households, this summer. The project, launched a year ago in collaboration with Banswara based NGO Vaagdhara, has yielded rich dividends for the population of 63,300 in the region, including 4,880 children below five years, by covering village squares, panchayat offices, schools and anganwadi centres which earlier lacked safe drinking water facilities.

A special feature of the project which has concentrated on repairing defective hand-pumps and installing new ones is formulation of a water security plan for each village and linking it with the respective village panchayats for effective implementation. The initiative has led to adequate supply of water serving the villagers' needs. A field assessment before the project's initiation had revealed that 40 per cent of the hand-pumps were non-functional for lack of trained mechanics while the concept of community ownership of these important sources of water "simply did not exist". Till last summer, women and girls would fetch water from unprotected sources situated 2 to 3 km from their homes, spending about an hour in the exercise. Most hand-pumps did not have any arrangement for disposal of waste water and many had gone dry due to depletion of water level.

Aapno Swasthya Aapne Haath installed groundwater recharge units along with hand-pumps with community support to make the water sources sustainable during summer. On Vaagdhara's suggestion, the project incorporated a plan for identification and training of hand-pump mechanics to reduce "breakdown time" of faulty hand-pumps and improve livelihood prospects for local tribal youths. Save the Children provided hand-pump tool kits to panchayats and village health committees, leading to establishment of 20 spare part depots. 12 December 2011: A new laser camera system has been installed on the Southern expressway in Sri Lanka.

The camera system can capture the vehicle number and the driver's image of speeding vehicles. Earlier cameras used by Sri Lanka police could only record the speed. Around 100 accidents have taken place in the expressway since its opening on November 27 and the major reason for the accidents has been identified as exceeding the speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour. Around 7,000 to 11,000 vehicles travel on the expressway each day and the number increases during weekends.

Source: Colombopage