Can anyone forget Dashrath Manjhi, the famous Mountain Man from Bihar's Gehlaur village, who carved a path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and chisel? Now, very much like Manjhi, another man from Bihar has achieved another such incredulous feat. Laungi Bhuiyan from Gaya has worked alone for thirty consecutive years and dug out a three-kilometre-long canal to fight the poverty in his village.
According to sources, Bhuiyan's feat has filled the people of his native Kothilwa village, located on the border of Imamganj and Bankebazar block in Gaya, with pride. After his incredible work, Bhuiyan has found himself in the limelight and is being called the 'Second Dashrath Manjhi'. In the meanwhile, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra has decided to provided tractors to the man to help him in his mission.
Being notified of the incident from a freelance journalist's tweets, Anand Mahindra announced that he would provide tractors to Laungi Bhuiyan. For some background, a Twitter used named Rohin Kumar had on September 18 posted about Bhuiyan, and urged Anand Mahindra to help him with the tractor.
"Laungi Manjhi of Gaya spent 30 years of his life digging a canal. He still doesn't want anything, except a tractor. He told me that if he receives a tractor, it will be of great help. @anandmahindra I reckon Mahindra would feel proud to honour this man," the user tweeted in Hindi, tagging the Mahindra Group chairman.
In response to this, Anand Mahindra replied from his official Twitter handle, saying that it would be his honour to provide Laungi Bhuiyan with a tractor.
"It would be my honour to provide him with a tractor. As you know, I had tweeted that I think his canal is as impressive a monument as the Taj or the Pyramids. We at @MahindraRise would consider it an honour to have him use our tractor. How can our team reach him @rohinverma2410?" Anand Mahindra tweeted.
Notably, Bhuiyan man has carved out a three-kilometre-long canal to take rainwater coming down from nearby hills to fields of his village, Kothilawa in Lahthua area of Gaya.
"It took me 30 years to dig this canal which takes the water to a pond in the village," said Laungi Bhuiyan who has dug out the canal single-handedly in Gaya.
"For the last 30 years, I would go to the nearby jungle to tend my cattle and dig out the canal. No one joined me in this endeavour... Villagers are going to cities to earn a livelihood but I decided to stay back," he added.
Kothilwa village is surrounded by dense forest and mountains, about 80 km away from Gaya district headquarters. This village is marked as a refuge for Maoists. The main means of livelihood for the people here are farming and animal husbandry.
During the rainy season, the water falling from the mountains used to flow into the river which used to bother Bhuiyan following which he thought of carving out a canal. He worked hard in order to save water coming from the mountains and utilise it.
"He has been carving out the canal for the last 30 years that too single-handedly. This will benefit a large number of animals and to irrigate the fields as well. He is not doing it for his own benefit but for the entire area," said Patti Manjhi, a local.
Ram Vilas Singh, a teacher who resides here praised Bhuiyan for benefiting the villagers and their fields.
"A lot of people will benefit here. People are now getting to know him because of his work," he added.
(With agency inputs)
