Dehradun: Keeping in mind the requirements of the next 30 years, an action plan should be made for water supply in the state. Effective steps should be taken to conserve rainwater and increase the groundwater level. Public cooperation should be taken for the revival of water sources, rivers and water streams and suggestions from the people working in this field should be taken and included in future action plans. Separate concrete plans should be made for drinking water, water storage and water conservation according to the requirements of the next 10 years and the next 30 years. Work should be done in this direction so that the water of Ganga is completely potable till the last border of the state. STP works should be done on the tributaries of Ganga. Public cooperation and suggestions should be taken for the cleanliness of Ganga. These instructions were given by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami during the meeting of drinking water and water resources in the Secretariat on Thursday. The Chief Minister said that to ensure regular water supply to the people from the connections installed under Jal Jeevan Mission, along with the revival of old water sources, new water sources should also be identified so that there is no problem of drinking water in summer. The Chief Minister said that water storage tanks and drinking water tankers should be cleaned regularly. He said that the quality of drinking water in the state should be tested from time to time. If all the quality standards are found to be correct, people should be made aware to use more water coming from natural water sources. To ensure that people do not face any problem of drinking water, control rooms should also be set up at the district level along with toll free numbers. Regular monitoring of public complaints should also be done at the department level. The Chief Minister said that a list of personnel posted at the same place for 05 years should be made available. The concerned departments should work in coordination to resolve the complaints of road digging when a new drinking water line is laid. The Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to review the assets of various departments which are not being used and use them properly. He said that Uttarakhand has entered the Silver Festival year. There are immense possibilities of working in this young state. We have to pay special attention to innovations and best practices, our effort should be to make some such schemes in the state, which become a model for other states as well. The work being done under SARA in Uttarakhand has also been appreciated by the Ministry of Water Power of the Government of India.
It was informed in the meeting that special focus is being given on Jal Sakhi, water reuse and drinking water management in the state. By connecting self-help groups in Jal Sakhi, a plan for billing, bill correction and maintenance of schemes at the local level is proposed. Along with this, for better management of water, water treated by STP will be used in gardening, irrigation, industrial sector, nursery, car wash, agriculture etc. Work is being done in this direction so that the water of Ganga and its tributary rivers flows forward in A category till the last border of the state.
Under SARA, the departments are working together to revive critical water sources. There is also a plan to measure the flow and discharge of rain-based rivers. In which IRI Roorkee and National Hydrological Institute will identify the works to be done in the rivers. Under the Uttarakhand Climate Friendly Rainfed Agriculture Project, the aim is to make mountain agriculture profitable and reduce the effect of greenhouse gas. For this, plantation will be done in the barren land of farmers. Along with this, there is also a plan to give benefit of carbon credit to the farmers.
Vice Chairman of Uttarakhand Infrastructure Monitoring Council Vishwas Dabur, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Shailesh Bagoli, Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Special Secretary Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Project Director Jalgam Neena Grewal, Additional Secretary Himanshu Khurana and related officers were present in the meeting.
