Water conservation committees to be formed in rural areas of Gurugram

To prevent water wastage, water conservation committees will be formed in the rural areas of all the four blocks (Farrukhnagar, Pataudi, Sohna and Gurugram) of Gurugram district. In these, 30 percent women's participation will be ensured.

For this initiative, Superintending Engineer, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, Gurugram, Dr Shiv Singh Rawat, held a review meeting on Wednesday at the district level with officials on the Atal Bhujal Yojana, a joint program of the Central Government, the World Bank and the State Government.

Rawat said that Jaipur Seva Foundation has been made District Implementation Partner (DIP) who will visit villages in coordination with ground water experts to strengthen the institutional framework of ground water management and capacity building through public participation.

He said the initiative will help to collect data about water sources like wells, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams. Water budget and water security plans have to be prepared at the village level.


"People will have to be made aware of the objectives and benefits of the scheme by visiting the 163 identified villages of Gurugram district," Rawat told IANS.

He said that the 'Atal Bhujal Yojana' is such a participatory groundwater management scheme which is related to groundwater and other government schemes related to agriculture such as 'Jalshakti Abhiyan, Mera Pani - Meri Virasat' Jal Jeevan Mission'.

"The main objective of the scheme is to ensure potable clean water to every person, farmers in rural areas to store sufficient amount of water for agriculture, rainwater harvesting, conservation and prevention of depleting water level," he said.


Rawat informed that Haryana has been divided into nine clusters to fulfil these objectives. Gurugram has been placed in the fifth cluster.

He instructed the officials that children of Nehru Yuva Kendra, Anganwadis, Asha workers, schools, colleges should be included in the program for awareness so that the awareness campaign can be accelerated. The issues and challenges related to the declining groundwater level and its quality were also discussed in the meeting.-IANS