DLF Foundation adopts Teekli village of Gurgaon

DLF Foundation in collaboration of CFBI (Citizens Foundation for Better India) adopted Teekli village of Sohna Mandal, Gurgaon district under its Gram Vikas Project to boost Centre's ambitious village adoption drive. The Gram Vikas Project was launched by Sh. Ved Parkash Yadav, Sarpanch, Teekli Village. Mr. Baljeet Singh, Vice President, DEDL, Ritesh Sinha, Head Village Cluster Development Program, DLF Foundation along with the officials of CFBI and DLF Foundation were also part of the inauguration. The inauguration was witnessed by more than 400 villagers of the Teekli Village.

Under the Gram Vikas Project, Foundation will work on developing Teekli across six major domains- health, education, infrastructure, waste management, livelihood and agriculture which will benefit more than 15,000 people living in around 1,390 households. As a part of the immediate steps at the village school, DLF seeks to implement a wide range of activities to improve the quality of education for the children. This will include need analysis of children, teachers, school, family members of children and community; construction of a resource centre for activity learning; provision of safe drinking water; mobile library; improving general sanitation; sensitization of teachers, parents and community members; community education; active advocacy and involvement of local government machinery, especially education authorities for school improvement. Computer labs, science labs and other co-curricular activities in sports, performing arts will also be introduced. In view of the lack of healthcare facilities available in the village, Foundation will also establish a 'PHC' which will serve as a primary health centre providing comprehensive check-ups to all sections of the village community. This Centre will also extend its services to the cluster villages around the Teekli village. Similarly, the Foundation would look into fixing the problems of youth unemployment by organizing skilling programs.

Speaking on the occasion, Ritesh Sinha, Head, Village Cluster Development Program, DLF Foundation, said "Through this project we are aiming to adopt villages in different parts of the country and contribute to the well-being of the community as well help them become self-sustainable after a while. We believe that we should create pride in the minds of all those, who associate with us and such community initiatives bring a positive vibe for others”.

Sh. Ved Parkash Yadav, Sarpanch, Teekli Village said, “We are really thankful to DLF Foundation for initiating this program in our village. Each and every individual of this village is contented and hopeful of this initiative. They have started the program on a very positive note of cleanliness and we ensure that we will extend our full support to them".

Shrimati Murti Devi, 58, the native of Teekli Village said, “Proper sanitation and clean drinking water is the biggest problem that we face. I hope that this Gram Vikas Project of DLF Foundation will take care of all this. We request that proper sanitation facilities for women and children should be the priority of this initiative”.

DLF Foundation has been involved in various community welfare programs in the past and this project is an attempt to build a progressive self-reliant rural community.The initial campaign, which has been launched under Gram Vikas project, Swach Teekli, Swasth Teekli, aims to support the village with core interventions in Cleanliness Environment. This campaign will start from 17th May itself. Along with the motive of cleanliness, a rally is also being organized for mobilizing the village community so that active participation of villagers can be ensured during the entire Gram Vikas project. The team of DLF Foundation will also conduct a need assessment exercise post the cleanliness drive. This will help the team to finalize on interventions required for each of the six domains. For example, for waste management the team may consider setting up a system for collecting waste from individual households and creating trenching grounds and vermin compost pits for disposing off the waste.

During the inauguration, awareness videos on various social issues and a glimpse of the future endeavors of how Teekli will be transformed into a model village were screened.With this adoption, the Foundation has added yet another milestone to its Corporate Social Responsibility programs and aims to expand these further in the country. The recent example of DLF Foundation’s self-sustainable initiatives are “Kachre se Kamai” (Solid waste management plant) and RO water purifiers in Hassanpur, Nawada Fatehpur, Kakrola and Dabaripur Village near Gurgaon. “Kachre se Kamai” has been lauded by the Sarpanch, the members of Panchayat from different villages and large number of villagers who has been directly or indirectly benefited.