The villagers and volunteers have been divided into 15 teams by sarpanch Eknath Atkar to build the bund that will trap water gushing down from the hills. Pics/Sameer Markande

This April, Mahadev Awhad, a deputy commissioner at the sales tax department in Mumbai, applied for leave to head back to his village. But, for the 50-year-old this wasn't the average summer holiday. Awhad, who lives in Neral with his wife and two children, made the 310 km road journey, a six-hour ride, with the sole aim of spending 10 hours under an unforgiving sun. Yet, he says, "This is the best thing that has happened to my village."