Political pitch has been growing over hosting IPL matches in drought-hit Maharashtra. The opposition claims that lakhs of litres of water would be wasted watering the grounds and pitches in three stadiums. On the other hand the government claims that BJP is raising a controversy against the IPL on ‘unnecessary grounds and the revenue derived by the IPL will only benefit state residents. Amidst the hustle and bustle of conflicts and politics, there is a loan crusader in Maharashtra who is fighting a silent battle of water conservation for years. He is none other than cartoonist, painter and script-writer Abid Surti.
Every Sunday Abid Surti knocks at the doors of the residents of Meera Road area of Mumbai taking a plumber along with him and plugs drips in homes free of cost. He ensures that not a single drop of water is wasted due to leakage in water tap. He has named his NGO Drop Dead whose tag line is Save Every Drop. Apart from him Abid Surti’s team comprises of a plumber and a volunteer, whose work is to create awareness regarding water conservation by launching door to door campaign.
On an estimate Abid Surti has so far saved more than 55 lakh litres of water from going down the drain. According to him his family reeled under acute water shortage during his childhood. In the year 2007 he was sitting in the house of his friend when he looked upon a leaking water tap. He called his friend’s attention towards it but like general public he did not pay attention towards it. Meanwhile Abid read an article according to which if one drop of water is wasted every second, 1,000 litres goes down the drain every month. This was the turning point of his life and begining of a breakthrough idea. The project needed money. In the meantime he got an award of Rs. 1 lakh by a literary institution. Thought turned into action and then kick off his mission which is continued still today.
In March 2008 Shekhar Kapoor who was making a film on water conservation profoundly lauded Abid on his website. As soon as he got media coverage filmstar Shahrukh Khan also read about him and got impressed by Abid. A news channel bestowed him with ‘Be the change award’. Abid, who doesn’t want to be in the limelight, says anyone can fight the battle of water conservation in his own area. In 70s when Abid produced cartoon character Bahadur, perhaps he would have thought then itself, that this would become an alternative of his work.
Abhishek Bhattacharya