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Jaipur, August 21 (HS). Groundwater Minister Kanhaiya Lal said that the state, which is facing difficult geographical conditions and extreme shortage of groundwater, is moving towards becoming self-sufficient in the field of water through Atal Groundwater Scheme. The economy and development of any state depends on the availability of water. New industries are also established more in states with water availability. He said that it is the result of the new policies and actions of the state government regarding groundwater that now our state has come from seventh place to third place in Atal Groundwater Scheme.
The Ground Water Minister was addressing a one-day training programme organised by the State Programme Management Unit, Jaipur under the Atal Ground Water Scheme at the State Agricultural Research Centre, Durgapura on Wednesday.
Kanhaiyalal said that the Atal Ground Water Scheme started on 25 December 2019 in the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is currently operating in 17 districts of the state. The former Prime Minister's dream of connecting rivers will prove to be a boon for Rajasthan. He said that water can be saved through irrigation techniques like drip, sprinkler etc., as well as better efforts should be made to save rainwater, recharge structures should be built at suitable places.
The Groundwater Minister said that there is the greatest shortage of water in western Rajasthan. This time the state received good rainfall, but due to lack of adequate efforts for rainwater harvesting, most of the rainwater was wasted. He said that we will have to make intensive and collective efforts to save rainwater. Attention will have to be paid to less exploitation of groundwater and more recharge.
Dr. Samit Sharma, Administrative Secretary, Ground Water Department, said that if the status of ground water level of the state is assessed, then Rajasthan is found to be in the most critical situation in the country, therefore, the ground water level has to be improved in the coming time. He said that the main objective of the Atal Ground Water Scheme is to change the behavior of the general public towards water to prevent the falling ground water level in the identified areas with community participation. He said that all the work under the scheme has to be completed by March 2025. Along with this, this scheme has to be brought from the third position to the first position in the entire country. For this, all efforts are required.
The Secretary to the Government said that at present, rainwater flows away in vain. For this, it will be necessary to make a concrete action plan. He said that it is necessary to maintain the previously constructed surface sources of drinking water, because sewerage water is going into it, due to which groundwater is also getting polluted. Therefore, there is a great need to work on this.
In the programme, Project Director of NPMU New Delhi Pratul Saxena, Dr IC Das of National Remote Sensing Agency Hyderabad, Nodal Officer of Atal Bhujal Yojana Dr B N Bhave, retired Chief Engineer of Water Supply Department of Chhattisgarh Harish Hingorani, Ajay Kumar Sahu, UNICEF specialist Rushabh Hemani provided information in technical sessions. Nodal officers of State and District Programme Management Unit and participating departments from 17 districts of the state, officers of Ground Water and Water Supply Department and subject experts were also present in the programme.
