Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice, Abdul Haq today called for prioritizing works under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for conservation of water resources.The Minister was speaking at the inauguration of day-long training programme on capacity building of watershed development team members and watershed committees.Secretary RDD, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Director RDD and CEO IWMP were also present on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Haq asked the officials to focus on soil and water conservation by constructing small dams in upper belts of villages to harness water for future use. He also called for construction of check dams and percolation tanks. The Minister said the aim of IWMP is to save every drop of water that falls on earth. He said the department needs to make coordinated effort to move forward in its mission and should not duplicate the works taken up under other schemes like MGNREGA.
Abdul Haq said the department will make short term missions to reach to the larger goal and hence the works will be prioritized according to needs. He said there is huge potential for building irrigation dams in mountainous terrain of the state which can be used to harness flowing water and channelized for irrigation as well as drinking purposes.He said the dams will help in rain water harvesting besides conserving soil & moisture while natural vegetation will also grow around the dams. The Minister said in next phase the department will take other steps to achieve the goal in consultation with the experts. He said prioritizing works will help in achieving the targets effectively as the department will work on thrust areas at the given point of time that will save expertise and resources.The Minister said the IWMP should not be confused with MGNREGA as the aim of MGNREGA is to provide jobs while the primary purpose of IWMP is to conserve soil and water.
He asked the officials to make use of the scheme effectively so that water is conserved for present as well as future generations. He said like other schemes, we can’t expect immediate results in IWMP but it will benefit the public in the long run and our next generation will benefit from it.He said IWMP will help in restoring ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing natural resources i.e. land, water, vegetative cover. He called for sustained community action for the operation and maintenance of assets created and further development of the potential of the natural resources in the watershed.Abdul Haq asked the officers to avoid concrete constructions for dams and tanks and instead stressed on simple, easy and affordable technological solutions and institutional arrangements that make use of, and build upon, local technical knowledge and available materials.Minister said there are certain irrigation dams in state that have been constructed hundreds of years ago by our forefathers and we are still making use of it and no rocket science is involved in construction of those dams.