New Delhi, February 19 – Officials from the Ministry of Jal Shakti and State governments agreed to strengthen coordination and accelerate the implementation of ongoing water resources projects/schemes, including dam safety and flood management, during a regional conference here, an official said on Thursday.
V. L. Kantha Rao, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD & GR), chaired the high-level Regional Conference of State Water Secretaries, which concluded with a call for formulating and executing integrated strategies for the sustainable and effective development of water resources.
The conference also emphasized the transition towards digital governance in water management, including the use of SCADA-based real-time monitoring, API-based data sharing for flood alerts, and the expansion of the Flood Watch mobile application for field officials.
The conference aimed to engage states in deeper discussions to strengthen center-state coordination and accelerate the implementation of ongoing water resources projects/schemes.
It brought together Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, and other senior officials from Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, NCT Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal.
The primary agenda included a comprehensive review of the implementation of various schemes of DoWR, RD & GR in the participating states, as well as the works of its organizations, such as CWC, CGWB, NWDA, NIH, NDSA, and NWIC, in those states, and how they can utilize the technical expertise of these organizations.
The officials also reviewed the status of the adoption of various advisories issued by the DoWR, RD & GR on Flood Plain Zoning, the National Framework on Sediment Management, the implementation of provisions of the Dam Safety Act, 2021, Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari 2.0, Regulation and control of Groundwater Extraction, among others.
Officials from State governments made presentations on the status of implementation of various schemes of DoWR, RD & GR, while flagging pending issues and the states' expectations of the Union government, the statement said.
Secretary DoWR and RD&GR reviewed the overall progress made by the states and assured full support in resolving pending matters and strengthening Centre-state coordination for the effective implementation of various schemes, it said.