Mangaluru: The union government had launched 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan', a water conservation programme in 255 districts of the country including 18 districts from the state. The aim of the campaign is to identify districts facing acute water shortage and then conducting water conservation activities in the selected blocks of the respective districts.
Joint secretary and Additional Secretary of the central government and an in-charge committee made of IAS level officials has been created for all the 18 districts selected under this campaign. These officials have been appointed from various departments including Central Water conservation Department, Space, Defense, Petroleum, Higher Education, Information Technology, Environment, Agriculture, Industry and others.
A coordination committee made of an IAS official as its president and the DC as its convener has also been created at all the selected districts.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan functions
In the campaign, importance will be given to water conservation and rainwater harvesting, renovation of traditional and other water bodies, reuse of water and recharging of structures, watershed development, and intensive afforestation in the selected districts. All these activities will be conducted at area with active southwest and northeast wind as per feasibility in two phases (Jun 1-Sep15 and Oct 1 – Nov 30).
Why Jal Shakti Abhiyan?
Presently, the country is facing a major lack of water to an extant where people are struggling to get water even during the monsoon seasons. Rivers and streams are drying quickly and the groundwater table has dropped drastically. The people neglecting of traditional water sources like wells, ponds and lakes has led the resources to the brink of extinction. The water requirement of the country is expected to double by 2023. Convinced by this development the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given call for the implementation of the national water conservation programme for the conservation and recharging of water resources.
District selected for the campaign
Bagalkot, Bangalore city, Bangalore rural, Belgaum, Bellary, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapur, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Davangere, Gadag, Hassan, Haveri, Kolar, Koppal, Ramanagara, Tumkur and Vijayapura have been selected under the campaign. Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have not yet been selected for the campaign nonetheless, programmes related to water conservation are being conducted in the twin-cities.
Jal Shakti Abhiyan Kasaragod
Only two districts from Kerala have been selected for the campaign including Kasaragod. The other district is Palakkad. As a representative of the union Ashok Kumar Singh and Indu C Nair of the Commerce ministry have visited Kasaragod and held discussions with the DC and the ZP officials.
