Odisha women use Subhadra Yojana funds to revive dying Balia River
JAGATSINGHPUR: Money under the government's flagship scheme Subhadra Yojana has been used by women for varied purposes. But in the sleepy village of Balia under Kujang block in Jagatsinghpur, 65 women have contributed their share of Subhadra money for a greater cause - breathing life into the fast dying Balia river.
The women, all members of Maa Bajrabudhi Primary Mahila Cooperative Society, founded in 2024, have restored a large patch of the river that was choked with silt and dense weeds. They had formed the cooperative society last year with the goal of economic empowerment and environmental rejuvenation.
Reviving 32 acre of Balia river bed at their village was their first major work. They removed pollutants, cleaned it and restored its natural environment within a period of 20 days. What came as a shot in the arm for the women was the Subhadra money of Rs 5,000.
Balia river, a distributary of Mahanadi that meets Jatadhari river mouth, had sustained the local population for generations through fishing, vegetable cultivation, and small-scale farming. Over the years, though, the riverbank was encroached by locals and the water choked. The women had time and again urged the local administration and elected representatives for reviving the waterbody but in vain.
'When the government announced the Subhadra Yojana, each of us had instantly decided to use the money and also some from our own savings for reviving the river. The idea was to generate income for ourselves and other villagers from the river water,' said president of the cooperative society Puspalata Jena.
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