A central team on Monday visited the Jalandhar District to review the progress of initiatives under Jal Shakti Abhiyan. The team headed by Central Nodal Officer, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence Dinesh Kumar, IAS visited a few locations to take stock of projects being executed under 'catch the rain' 2023 initiative.
Accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma, Scientist Central Ground Water Board KP Singh, the Nodal Officer had a detailed review meeting with the departments concerned. He called for more concerted efforts by all departments to improve the depleting ground water table.
He asserted that more projects to be taken up before onset of monsoon so that significant results can be seen with respect to ground water table. He emphasised the need for early completion of District Water Conservation plan for the year 2023-24 by the administration . He personally visited the prominent projects including Jal Shakti Kendras, rain water harvesting systems, ponds, drip irrigation system, and afforestation drive.
Following the meetings with different departments, Union Joint Secretary Dinesh Kumar, IAS visited Jal Shakti Kendra, inspected rain water harvesting systems at various locations, drip irrigation system at KVK Nurmahal, Thapar Model Pond at Talwandi Madho, Seechewal model pond at village Seechewal besides others.
He also had an interaction with progressive farmers at a KVK premises and underscored the need for crop diversification to save ground water. He urged the progressive farmers to spread maximum awareness in this context so that other farmers can also adopt modern techniques to further prevent depletion of water resources.
Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma apprised the central teams about projects like pond rejuvenation, water treatment plants, drip irrigation, and reusing pond water through pipelines were already taken up by the authorities concerned.
Likewise, a slew of new projects have also been proposed to preserve maximum rain water during upcoming monsoon. CNO asked concerned Depts to take up More number of IEC activities to create awareness among masses for water conservation & harvesting.
CNO directed the district team to ensure Geo tagging of all water bodies.Central Nodal Officer stressed the need of Regular periodic review by ADC and DC for successful time bound implementation of district water conservation plan.
The central team also reviewed the progress on amrit Sarovars . Jalandhar has planned to develop 75 amrit sarovars . The district authorities assured the central team that Remaining ongoing work on 39 amrit sarovars to be completed by end of this month and all 75 sarovars will be completed .
Earlier, the central team also visited the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan, Nurmahal where they saw organic farming of dragon and other fruits through drip irrigation. They appreciated the good farming practices being executed by the sansthan based on water conservation .
Meanwhile, Central Nodal Officer along with their team planted saplings on the occasion of world environment day at government senior secondary school, Ladowali Road. The team members stressed on more and more saplings before monsoon season.
Prominent amongst others present on the occasion included Additional Deputy Commissioner Varinderpal Singh Bajwa, Soil & Water Conservation Officer Lupinder Kumar, DDPO Sukhbir Kaur, Chief Agriculture Officer Dr. Jaswant Rai, and officials from different departments.
Notably, the central team has reached Jalandhar today as a part of its three day visit to oversee works being done for water conservation.