Hand Pump Yojana

What is Hand Pump Yojana?

Hand Pump Yojana is a works scheme of the Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board. The body most people in the state know as the Mandi Parishad: under the Department of Agriculture, Government of Uttarakhand. Under the scheme, hand pumps are installed to give reliable and accessible drinking water to farmers and villagers, particularly in areas where the existing supply is unreliable or absent.

The scheme sits with the Marketing Board rather than the drinking water department for a specific reason: Mandi Samitis, the Agricultural Produce Market Committees, collect market fee within their notified areas and hold that money in a Mandi Vikas Nidhi (market development fund), which is meant to be spent on facilities for farmers in and around the market area. A hand pump at a mandi yard, at a village collection point or in a farming habitation within the Samiti's area of operation is a legitimate charge on that fund. The Central Mandi Fund held by the Board supplements it.

Hand Pump Yojana is best understood as infrastructure delivered on demand, not as a benefit paid to a named beneficiary. Nobody receives money. What the scheme delivers is a functioning hand pump at a site the local Mandi Samiti has agreed to.

Who is eligible, and who cannot apply?

You can raise a demand if:

• You are a farmer or a villager in Uttarakhand, or the Gram Pradhan or an elected public representative speaking for a habitation.
• The proposed site has a genuine drinking water need, an area described in the scheme as water-scarce, or where the nearest reliable source is far away.
• The site falls within the area of operation of a Mandi Samiti, since it is the Samiti that must first approve the proposal and the Mandi Vikas Nidhi that must bear the cost.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are seeking a cash payment or a subsidy in your own name. Hand Pump Yojana pays for a work, not a person, and there is no Direct Benefit Transfer under it.
• You want a hand pump inside a private property for private use only, with no community benefit. The Samiti approves works for farmers and villagers as a group.
• The site is outside any Mandi Samiti's area of operation, in which case the Mandi Vikas Nidhi cannot be charged, and the demand belongs with the Jal Sansthan or the Panchayat instead.
• You are applying online. There is no online application route for this scheme, so an online form claiming to register you for a hand pump is not official.

What documents are required?

The scheme listing states plainly that documents are required in accordance with what the Mandi Samiti and the Mandi Board ask for, and no fixed national checklist is published. In practice a demand should carry:

How to apply for a hand pump under the scheme

Application is offline. The chain of approval has three clear stages, and knowing them is the difference between a demand that moves and one that does not.

1. Write the demand. Prepare a written application naming the exact site proposed for the hand pump, the village or habitation it will serve, the approximate number of households, and why the existing drinking water arrangement is inadequate.
2. Get it endorsed. Have the Gram Pradhan or a local public representative sign or forward the demand. A collective demand signed by several farmers of the area carries more weight than a single signature.
3. Submit it to the local Mandi Samiti — the Agricultural Produce Market Committee whose area covers your village, and take a dated acknowledgement with a receipt or diary number.
4. Mandi Samiti approval. The Samiti considers the demand and approves a proposal to meet the cost from the Mandi Vikas Nidhi.
5. Marketing Board consent. The Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board gives its consent for the work from the Central Mandi Fund.
6. Estimate and sanction. The concerned branch of the Board prepares the project estimate, which goes to the Managing Director for administrative and financial approval.
7. Execution. After sanction, the work is executed and the hand pump is installed at the approved site.

How do I follow up on a demand?

1. Keep the acknowledgement issued by the Mandi Samiti. The diary number on it is how the demand is traced at every later stage.
2. Ask the Mandi Samiti secretary whether the demand has been placed before the Samiti and with what result. This is where most demands wait.
3. Ask which stage the file is at: Samiti approval, Board consent, estimate, or Managing Director's sanction. Each stage sits with a different office, and a specific question gets a specific answer.
4. Escalate to the Uttarakhand CM Helpline on 1905 if a demand has been pending for an unreasonable period without a decision, quoting the diary number.

Why demands do not move, and what to do about it

• No written record. A verbal request to an official leaves nothing to trace. Always submit in writing and take an acknowledgement.
• Site outside the Samiti's area of operation. The commonest structural problem. If the site is not in a notified market area, take the demand to the Gram Panchayat or the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan instead.
• Need not established. A demand that does not say how many households are affected and what the current source is gives the Samiti nothing to weigh.
• Mandi Vikas Nidhi already committed for the year, in which case the demand will normally be carried to the next year's works list, ask for that confirmation in writing.
• No follow-up after Samiti approval. Approval by the Samiti is only the first of three stages, and files stall between stages when nobody asks.

Where do I get help?

• Your local Mandi Samiti (Agricultural Produce Market Committee). The first and most important point of contact for raising and tracking a demand.
• Uttarakhand Agricultural Produce Marketing Board (Mandi Parishad), under the Department of Agriculture, for the Board consent and sanction stages.
• Department of Agriculture, Uttarakhand: agriculture.uk.gov.in
• Uttarakhand CM Helpline: 1905

No fee is payable to raise a demand under Hand Pump Yojana, and no cash benefit is paid to any individual under it. Any demand for money to get a hand pump sanctioned should be reported through the CM Helpline. The Marketing Board does not publish a separate scheme-specific telephone helpline, and no unit cost or annual target for hand pumps is published for citizens, so the Mandi Samiti office is the only reliable source for the current position in your area.