Shri Bhaktaranjan Mohanty, EIC, Water Resources, on behalf of the department and Prof Asish Pandey, Head of Water Resources Development & Management (WRD&M), IIT, Roorkee signed the agreement.
WD News: The Odisha government has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee to improve the management of its water resources.
The Department of Water Resources (DoWR) and IIT-Roorkee signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the preparation of a State Specific Action Plan (SSAP) on the water sector for Odisha in the presence of the Minister of Water Resources, Tukuni Sahu and Development Commissioner Anu Garg in Bhubaneswar recently.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Sahu said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has always emphasised on the development and better management of water resources. “While we are getting plenty of water during the rainy season, we face water scarcity in summer. The use of technology will help us meet the water requirement of our state in the coming days,” she added.
The total time for preparation of SSAP will be 18 months which will be completed in three stages. The first stage will be of nine months in which the status report on water resources in Odisha, its availability, development and management along with a state-level workshop will be carried out. In the second stage of the 6-month duration, an interim report will be prepared which will contain the impact of climate change and various interventions followed by a second workshop and sensitisation of policymakers. The state will get the final report on SSAP by the end of stage three.
Ms Garg said that the MoU will help increase water use efficiency and irrigation potential in the state. “We are managing water resources and irrigation through various major, medium and minor reservoirs, check dams, command area development (CADs) and OLIC with the support of Pani Panchayats, canal lining and also through climate resilient infrastructure development. Despite all this, we need to prepare a long-term action plan looking at the future need for water,” she added.
Source: Odishabytes
Image courtesy: Department of Water Resources, Odisha
