The Union Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Rajiv Gauba, recently urged the Telangana government to use funds from various schemes for water conservation efforts. During a video conference on the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Dr. Gauba emphasized the importance of completing an inventory of all water bodies, geotagging them, and creating scientific plans.
He praised the Chief Secretaries for constructing over 75,000 water bodies under the Amrit Sarovar program last year as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. This year’s Jal Shakti Abhiyan focuses on empowering women in water management, and Dr. Gauba urged states to involve women’s self-help groups in training and decision-making.
Dr. Gauba also stressed the need for comprehensive policies for rural and urban water supply operations, including maintaining water quality through chlorination. States were advised to enforce rainwater harvesting laws and address encroachments on water bodies in urban areas.
Other key areas of focus for the Jal Shakti Abhiyan include desilting water bodies, reactivating defunct borewells for groundwater recharge, geotagging water bodies, afforestation in catchment areas, and reviving small rivers. State officials like CS Santhi Kumari, PR&RD Principal Secretary Sandeep Kumar Sultania, and Irrigation Special Secretary Prashant Jeevan Patil discussed their conservation efforts during the meeting.
