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Water Harvesting Project at the Kripsaran Children’s Home, Darjeeling
Update Report to GlobalGiving, January 2022
In late 2020, the government of India issued regulations that required all organisations which benefitted from an account under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, to apply for a new account registered centrally in the State Bank of India in Delhi. Without such an account, no donations from abroad could be received by organisations after the end of March 2021. The Kripasaran Buddhist Mission submitted an application for its new account in March, 2021and this was finally approved in mid-December. In the eight and a half month hiatus, and without an available funding stream, it was necessary to stop all construction on the site of the Children’s Home.
Since approval was given, and with some delay to allow for Christmas and New Year festivities, preparations have been taking place to develop the construction programme and to gather the necessary workforce. It is intended that work will restart on site at the beginning of February 2022, although the actual date will depend to an extent on the on going Covid crisis and the lockdown regulations in West Bengal, with the Omnicom variant now appearing to take hold in the hills. Currently all education establishments are closed but construction work can proceed although potentially the availability of labour may be affected if absentee rates are high due to illness.
The site of the Children’s Home is steep and space is limited for construction of the underground water storage tank. The works which will start in February are on the higher part of the site outlined in red on the photo above, and will include demolition of the old Prayer Hall and construction of new retaining walls and some new buildings (kitchen, store, office and Head Monk’s accommodation). This will involve reconfiguration of the small open area to the right of the hall to provide a larger open lawned area for recreation. It is proposed that the underground storage tank will be located below the lawned area. Work is also proceeding to identify the locations of surface water tanks linked directly to down pipes which will be smaller but which will also collect and store roof water.
It is hoped that the majority of the preparatory works, including construction of the tank will be completed before the onset of the main monsoon rains in May/June.
Darjeeling Children’s Trust would like to thank donors for their patience and understanding during this difficult period and would like to reassure them that every effort is being made to ensure completion of this proposal as quickly as possible.
Marilyn Adams
Trustee, Darjeeling Children’s Trust.
7th January, 2022
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