Patil Chaitali Chandrahas

1577

The main aim of the Laboratory and Activity Centre for Agariya Community would be to work for and facilitate alleviation of the existential and social condition of the community. Scientific investigations, research, community programs, experiments in select fields and resource bank would be the participatory instruments of this centre. In the middle/context of barren land, salty soil, salty weather, extreme heat and cold, flooding for four months, dust storms, tornadoes, no vegetation, status of being a sanctuary and thereby building restrictions, corroding steel, effervescent concrete; the Agariya’s have been producing inland salt for ages and have been one of the most disadvantaged communities of Gujarat and the country. We are looking at two different sites with different programs, the site ‘A’ (External program at the periphery of the desert) is in Khraragoda, near Hindustan salt Private limited. This site will host the permanent facilities like Civic centres, Labs-Learning & research centre, Education hubs, and Health Centres etc. The site ‘B’ (Internal program in the desert) is located closer to the settlements near the Jhalandar bet, this site will have facilities to be plugged in for the desert communities.