Akarmaa launches ‘Mee Baavi’ movement to protect Telangana’s stepwells

Hyderabad: City-based heritage conservation organisation Akarmaa has launched its “Mee Baavi” (Your Stepwell) Telangana Stepwells Movement to secure legal protection for, restore and revive hundreds of decades-old stepwells amid worsening water scarcity and groundwater depletion in Hyderabad.

Akarmaa will hold a panel discussion at KBR Park at 4.30 pm on November 13. It will also organise a photo exhibition featuring stepwells at KBR Park and public places to raise awareness about stepwells and technology used to store water, co-founder Arunima said.

The initiative aims to convert long-neglected historical monuments into functional water reservoirs and groundwater recharge systems, using Hyderabad’s subterranean infrastructure to address the water crisis, she said. The organisation attributed the worsening situation to a severe “Super El Niño” phenomenon, she said.

Arunima said Akarmaa had taken up several more stepwells for conservation, with the conserved structures recharging more than 500 lakh litres of water annually. However, conserving individual stepwells was not enough, she said, calling for a three-pillar approach that includes policy and work with stakeholders to ensure legal protection.

The movement seeks to shift the discourse from water as a resource to be accessed and managed to a shared inheritance requiring care, responsibility and belonging to the commons, she said.