Mahabalipuram: The All India Secretaries’ Conference on Water Vision 2047 – Way Ahead in Mahabalipuram was held on January 23-24. Minister of Jal Shakti, Government of India, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, addressed the event. “Energy can be generated, but water cannot be produced,” he said.
Shekhawat encouraged the exchange of best practices on water management and learning from failures. He further reported that at least 10% of the blocks (geographical units) have successfully reversed the trend of groundwater depletion in the last year.
Secretary of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Debashree Mukherjee, emphasised the core themes of water use efficiency and water governance, among other actions, as crucial factors for ensuring Jan Bhagidari (public participation).
Mukherjee outlined the anticipated outcomes of the conference, including the assessment of actions taken on agreed recommendations, an agreement to expedite actions in areas that require acceleration, the establishment of a peer learning platform, a forum for collaboration and partnerships, ongoing dialogue on strengthening water security, and the identification and sharing of capacity building needs.
At the conference, IAS officer G Asok Kumar, Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, addressed several crucial points. He underscored the significance of water as a critical element in the $5 trillion journey and highlighted the six key verticals identified for interventions under Arth Ganga. Notably, Kumar mentioned the real-time monitoring of all sewage treatment plants (STPs) on the river Ganga plain, with the National Mission for Clean Ganga actively adding 16 STPs per day through PRAYAG.
Additionally, Kumar highlighted the extensive manual water quality monitoring conducted across 97 water stations in various states. He also commended the PRAYAG portal as a model for online monitoring of STPs, showcasing advancements in technological solutions for effective water management.
The event was attended by esteemed dignitaries like IAS Anurag Srivastava, Principal Secretary, Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department, Professor Vinod Tare, Clean Ganga, Sriram Vedire, Advisor to Minister of Jal Shakti, Sandeep Saxena, ACS (WR), Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Naveen Singhal, Superintendent Engineer, Uttarakhand Irrigation Council, Manoj Kumar, Chief Engineer, Jal Shakti Vibhag, Jammu and Kashmir, Shubho Biswas, Deshpande Foundation Works, and several others.
