December 28th, 2023 : UltraTech’s integrated manufacturing unit, Andhra Pradesh Cement Works located at Bhogasamudram in Rayalaseema won in the ‘Best CSR in Water Management’ category at the 3rd Edition of CII-Southern Region Industrial Water and Waste Management Competition on 30th August 2023 at Chennai for an Integrated Watershed Management Project. Implemented in Petnikota and Ayyavaripalli villages of Andhra Pradesh since 2019, the project benefited over 2,000 people across 500 households in the two villages.
Adopting the villages
Having faced an alarming 30% decrease in groundwater level every year, the Rayalaseema region has become semi-arid and chronically drought-prone. Owing to water scarcity, the lands degraded and agricultural productivity declined significantly in the region. Addressing the issue, UltraTech’s unit team adopted Ayyavaripalli village in Kolimigundla Mandal at Anantapur district and Petnikota village in Tadipatri Mandal at Nandyal district to implement the project in partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The objective of the project is to set up, protect and restore community water structures in the villages and uplift the lives and livelihoods of the local population.
As a part of the project, the unit CSR team carried out multiple interventions to enhance the availability of water. Seven rainwater harvesting structures were constructed in the two villages to enhance the groundwater levels and ensure the availability of water throughout the year. The structures stored 35,000 cubic metres of harvested water that helped recharge 5 lakh cubic metres of groundwater. This in turn helped increase the groundwater level in the watershed areas by two to four metres. The recharged rainwater also helped irrigate nearly 346 hectares of cultivable area in both the watershed villages. With the help of the watershed interventions in the villages 400 acres of barren land was made cultivable. Owing to sustained water availability, farmers could harvest three crops in 115 hectares of land in a year, by sowing millets or short-duration vegetable crops after monsoon.
Community outreaches
The community outreaches of the unit CSR team also made significant positive impacts.
A high-yield variety of seeds developed by ICRISAT was distributed and sown in 250-280 acres of farmland. The intervention helped increase the yield by 30-40%
Soil health cards were distributed to the farmers in the villages. They were made aware of the usage of fertilizers and pesticides based on individual soil health conditions. This outreach helped control the cost of cultivation by optimising the use of fertilizers and pesticides
Kitchen garden seeds were distributed to households. This helped the women earn an income of Rs. 2,500 to 3,000 per month
Farmers were trained in good agricultural practices, income generation activities, best practices for land use and crop management
The success of the project contributes to UltraTech’s journey towards the goal of becoming a five-time water-positive company by 2024 by improving facilities in regions experiencing water scarcity.
About the award
The objective of the CII Southern Region Industrial Water awards in the ‘Best CSR In Water Management’ category is to recognise and award excellence in water management practices and facilitate sharing of best practices adopted by the industries, institutions, organizations. About 40 companies including Ashok Leyland, Hero Motors, MRF, NTPC, Wells Fargo and Year Fertilizer etc. participated in the competition in various categories. About 10 companies participated in the ‘Best CSR in Water Management’ category.
UltraTech undertakes its social initiatives under the aegis of The Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development with Mrs. Rajashree Birla as its Chairperson and anchored by Dr Pragnya Ram as the Group Head for CSR. UltraTech’s CSR focus areas are education, healthcare, sustainable livelihoods, community infrastructure and social causes. UltraTech reaches out to more than 1.6 million beneficiaries in over 500 villages in 16 states across India.
