Lucknow: ‘Uttar Pradesh is transforming and that transformation is happening based on the sustainability model,’ this was stated by Durga Shanker Mishra, Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh in the inaugural of ‘Sustainable Water Management Conclave’ held in Lucknow on Wednesday. The event was organised by APAC News Network and supported by Schneider Electric and UP Jal Nigam. Chief Secretary was the Chief Guest of the event. He said that ‘We need to focus on agriculture to save water. That is why also Hon’ble Prime Minister has given focus on that. We need to focus on demand & supply side of water. That is why sustainable water management is the need of the hour.’ Talking about various initiatives in the state Durga Shanker Mishra also added ”Dual piping is being implemented in the state of Uttar Pradesh to manage water consumption.’
In his Keynote Address, Amrit Abhijat, Principal Secretary of Urban Development Department, UP opined ”We have to focus more on making water less pollute which will result in more potable water.’ Amritanshu Kumar, Segment Head, Water of Schneider Electric highlighted how his organisation is helping various governments in water management by leveraging technology. ‘ ‘Schneider is focusing on digital transformation for sustainability & resilience in water & waste water segment,’ said Amritanshu.
The event was also attended by key policymakers of the state such as G S Priyadarshi, Commissioner, Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Balkar Singh, IAS, Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (Rural), Government of Uttar Pradesh, Amit Kumar Singh, IAS, Special Secretary, Urban Development & Joint Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (Urban), Indrajit Singh, Commissioner, Lucknow Municipal Corporation & CEO, Lucknow Smart City Limited.
G S Priyadarshi in his presentation highlighted how 85 out of 264 schemes under MNREGA are focused only on water. ‘This proves water is very important for MNREGA,’ he added.
Balkar Singh stated that ‘in near future, technological innovations will be used in rural areas in a major way to manage use of water.’ Lucknow Smart City CEO’s take was that ‘there is a huge scope of doing various things for urban water management and govt-industry can work together.’
This one day knowledge sharing platform on sustainable water management was attended by Chief Engineers of various departments of Uttar Pradesh.
