Chandigarh, Mar 25 (PTI) Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday assured the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti that the state government would continue to make concerted efforts to sustainably manage groundwater resources.
During a meeting of the committee of secretaries on ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2022’ campaign held through video conferencing, Kaushal said a five-pillar strategy — institutional reforms, policy interventions, focusing on key projects and activities, convergence, and implementation and governance — has been adopted by the state, according to an official release.
The officer said the government of Haryana has been led from the front by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and several institutional and policy initiatives were taken by the state for water conservation and management.
“The chief minister launched one of its kind ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ scheme from eight districts even during the pandemic,” he stated.
During the meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, it was informed that the National Water Mission will be implementing ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2022’ covering both urban and rural areas of all districts of the country.
The campaign will be launched on March 29, 2022, and will continue till November 30, 2022.
Kaushal informed that since under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, geotagging of all water bodies was mandatory, the ponds authority along with Haryana Space Applications Centre has geotagged 18,104 ponds and water bodies of the state, thereby making Haryana the only state to geotag all its water bodies.
The Micro Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority is targeting using treated wastewater for agriculture and as many as 31 projects amounting to Rs 256 crore have been approved, he said.
He said in Haryana, the Catch the Rain campaign is focused on saving and conserving rainwater.
As many as 49,136 rainwater harvesting structures, around 8,623 renovations of traditional water bodies, 25,921 reuse and recharge and 6,238 watershed development structures have been constructed across the state, he said.
“District Water Conservation Plans have been formulated for all 22 districts. These plans are made from micro-level village plans and contain both supply and demand side interventions and strategic action plans for water conservation,” Kaushal said. PTI CHS VSD SMN SMN
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Source: The Print
