The deliberations of two-day Regional Conference on ‘Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat’ focusing on ‘Jal Shakti’ and ‘Disaster Management’ concluded here today with adoption of Sahyog-Sankalp resolution.The Valedictory session of the Conference was co-chaired by Advisors to Lieutenant Governor, KK Sharma and Farooq Khan, who also released Sahyog-Sankalp (Cooperation-Declaration) resolution in presence of Additional Secretary, DARPG, V Srinivas, Deputy Secretary, DARPG, Renu Arora and Secretary, Disaster Management, Govt of J&K, Pandurang K Pole.Speaking during the session, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, KK Sharma said that this conference will help in sharing technical expertise between the two participating regions which will eventually help in developing the infrastructure regarding disaster response mechanism in the Union Territory of J&K.
He asserted that lot of good practices are being adopted by Tamil Nadu in various fields apart from disaster management which need to be replicated and adopted for overall development of J&K. He also stressed upon the participants especially from J&K to expose themselves to various innovative technologies employed in disaster management as J&K is severely prone to natural calamities.Advisor Sharma said that under ‘Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat’ program, different states have been integrated with one another and various mutual learning programmes in the field of tourism, culture and education have been held. He added that this Conference has taken it to the next level of knowledge sharing in the fields of administration and governance between the two regions.
Speaking on the occasion, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan stressed upon the importance of sharing real time information during disasters so that loss of property could be minimized besides saving precious human lives.Complementing DARPG for organizing this Conference, Advisor Khan termed this initiative as a serious effort to deliberate upon the issues related to disaster management. He opined that the outcome of the Conference would be of significant help to J&K as the experience and knowledge gained during the event would help the concerned officials and departments to form better mechanism while tackling difficult situations in future. The conference later, unanimously adopted several deliberations of the conference during the valedictory session in the form of resolution titled Sahyog-Sankalp, which was read out by Secretary, Disaster Management, Govt of J&K, Pandurang K Pole on the occasion.
The Conference resolved that the Government of India and the participating Governments of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh shall collaborate to:
Ø Promote unity in diversity envisaged under the ‘Ek Bharat - Shresht Bharat’ Programme through enhanced exchange of information in the fields of Jal Shakti and Disaster Management;
Ø Make concerted efforts to resolve mutually concerning issues in the areas of Jal Shakti and Disaster Management through improved monitoring and a deep and structured engagement between the paired Governments.
Ø Hold Regional Conferences throughout the year, alternatively, between the paired Governments, on mutually agreed subjects related to Jal Shakti and Disaster Management. The first of these Conferences will be convened in Chennai in 2020 by DARPG, where officials from the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will present the progress registered and achievements made in the areas of Jal Shakti and Disaster Management
Ø Share technical expertise in the areas of Water Harvesting, Cutting Down Farm Water Consumption, Preventing Urban Flooding and Rejuvenation of Rivers;
Ø Work towards long-term engagements in the areas of Jal Shakti and Disaster Management through Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the Line Departments of the paired Governments; and
Ø Create a favorable environment for learning by sharing best practices and experiences in terms of documentation and dissemination through conference proceedings and special publications of the DARPG Journal ‘Minimum Government - Maximum Governance’ on the subjects of Jal Shakti and Disaster Management
Earlier during the morning session of concluding day of the conference, presentations on Urban Flooding under the themes Management of Floods, Forecasting and Early Warning, Emergency Responses and NDRF Rescue operations- 2014 Srinagar Floods & 2015 Chennai floods were delivered by various experts from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) highlighting various techniques and mechanisms employed by the respective agencies while dealing with post disaster situations in order to minimize the post disaster damage.On November 30, the two day Regional Conference was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh in presence of Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of J&K, Girish Chandra Murmu and Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam.During the two-day conference, six technical sessions were held on wide ranging issues viz., Rejuvenation of Rivers- Cauvery and Jhelum, Reducing Water Consumption in Agriculture, Water Warriors Discussion, Urban flooding, NDRF Rescue operations – 2014 Srinagar floods and 2015 Chennai floods.As part of the Conference, several interactive sessions were held in every module to provide participants an opportunity to attain better understanding of various topics covered in the programme.