The Hindu : Advani for integrated water resources management

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 06, 2002

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Advani for integrated water resources management

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 5. "Water is becoming a contentious issue, as the dispute over the sharing of Cauvery waters has clearly shown. This has sharply brought home the urgency of cooperative and integrated management of water resources," the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, said here today.

"On the one hand, most of the rain water flows into the seas without being harnessed; on the other, ground water is depleting due to its over-extraction," he said.

Inaugurating the conference of State Ministers of Rural Development on Rural Drinking Water, Mr. Advani said the proper harvesting of rainwater could solve domestic and agricultural water needs.

The State Ministers will hold discussions on `Swajaldhara', an ambitious programme of supplying safe drinking water to all villages through people's participation by 2004. The programme is scheduled to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on December 25.

Recognising the role of voluntary organisations in taking initiatives for development projects, he said the need of the hour was to have a synergy between the Government and the non-governmental organisations in accomplishing all round development, including water conservation.

A proposal to have a "garland of rivers" in the country needed to be fine-tuned, he added. He praised two NGOs, "Pani Panchayat" of Maharashtra, whose campaign of impounding every drop of water to make it seep into the soil is being led by Vilasrao Salunke, a social activist, and the Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh's organisation "Tarun Bharat Sangh" in Alwar district of Rajasthan which had shown that even in low rainfall areas it was possible to conserve water through traditional techniques and the initiative of local people.

Underscoring the need for proper maintenance of water supply facilities in the rural sector, Mr. Advani said if all the hand pumps and piped water supply schemes, installed in 14 lakh habitations in the country, were to be maintained, the State Governments would need Rs. 5,000 crores.

"The States alone cannot meet this requirement. You need to utilise the services of the panchayats and community-based organisations."

The need of the hour was to change the approach in managing all community assets, including drinking water systems.

He said the Water Resources Ministry had circulated a model bill to all State Governments to regulate the use of ground water but, unfortunately, very few States had taken any steps in this regard.

Under the "Swajaldhara" programme, 10 per cent of the cost of each project would have to be contributed by the village community and the rest would come from the Centre, the Rural Development Minister, Shanta Kumar, said adding that "Swajaldhara", a demand driven reform initiative, would be expanded to all districts of the country with an outlay of Rs. 2,060 crores.

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