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Public participation a must to revive groundwater conservation methods: U.P. CM
U.P. CM Yogi Adityanath flagged off “Digital Groundwater Raths” marking the beginning of the “Groundwater Week” across the state to create awareness among the people for better conservation, management and use of the groundwater
Laying emphasis on public participation for reviving traditional methods of groundwater conservation, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said there will be rainwater harvesting at every 500-metre on the Bundelkhand Expressway to conserve water in that region.
The CM flagged off “Digital Groundwater Raths” here marking the beginning of the “Groundwater Week” across the state to create awareness among the people for better conservation, management and use of the groundwater.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “The ‘Digital Groundwater Raths’ will increase public awareness and will ensure public participation in the revival of traditional methods of groundwater conservation, making the ‘Groundwater Week’ (July 16 to 22) successful throughout the state.”
“The work of groundwater conservation is being carried out extensively in 550 gram panchayats located in 26 development blocks of 10 selected districts in the state under the ‘Atal Bhujal Yojana’. The state government is sparing no efforts to connect every part of the state to this exercise,” he said
“The increase in the demand of water resulted in uncontrolled usage and mismanagement of groundwater. It is essential to maintain availability and quality of groundwater to ensure that our future generations are not deprived of it,” the CM said.
“Due to excessive usage of groundwater and mismanagement, many regions were declared “dark zones” in terms of availability of groundwater in the state. However, in the last five years, several measures were taken and dedicated efforts were made to improve the situation. Today, nearly 25 development blocks are no longer recognised as dark zones and significant improvement has happened,” Yogi said.
“‘Catch the Rain’ project was launched in the state in 2019. As the country celebrates ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, action is under way to develop 75 ponds in the form of ‘Amrit Sarovar’ in rural areas of every district. Even urban areas are joining the scheme,” he said.
“The government has made special efforts to promote rainwater harvesting in the state. Under ‘Atal Bhujal Yojana’, only 10 districts were selected by the Centre. However, the state government decided to extend the water conservation plan to the remaining 65 districts as well,” the CM said.
“To make groundwater conservation a mass movement in Uttar Pradesh, the revival of water bodies will be done by making people aware about the importance of water conservation in ponds, check dams, rooftop rainwater harvesting, integrated water management and other water conservation activities throughout the week,” he said.
