MPs urged to participate in Jal Shakti Ministry's 'Catch The Rain Campaign'

Union minister Rattan Lal Kataria has urged his fellow parliamentarians to support the ongoing 'Catch The Rain Campaign' during the monsoon season.

Kataria, who is a Minister of State in the Jal Shakti Ministry, has written letters to all MPs, both from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, to support the ongoing ''Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain'' campaign in their respective constituencies and states.

The campaign with the theme ''Catch the rain where it falls, when it falls'' was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22, coinciding with the World Water Day.

The campaign aims at tapping rainwater by constructing artificial recharge structures, revitalising existing ponds and water bodies, creating new water bodies, provisioning check dams, rejuvenating wetlands and rivers before the onset of monsoon.

It is also planned to create a database of all water bodies in the country by geo-tagging them and using this data to create scientific and data-based district-level water conservation plans.

The letter gives about the details of the campaign and also informs them about the progress already made. It seeks their support and contribution in sensitising people to conserve rainwater during the monsoon season.

''We all must come together and rise above the party lines to address the common problem of depleting ground water levels and water scarcity, in public interest.'' Kataria added.

'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain Campaign' covers all rural and urban areas of all districts of the country, unlike the Jal Shakti Abhiyan-1 of 2019, which covered only 1,592 water-stressed blocks out of 2,836 blocks in 256 districts of the country.

In the last two months after the launch, the campaign has made noticeable achievements, despite the severe challenges posed by ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according a statement.

The Ministry of Rural Development has reported completion of construction of 1.64 lakh water conservation and rain water harvesting (RWH) structures, incurring an expenditure of Rs 5,360 crore, while work is in progress on 1.82 lakh additional structures.

The ministry said 37,428 traditional structures and existing water bodies have been renovated till date with an expenditure of Rs 2,666 crore and 42,000 additional structures are expected to be rejuvenated shortly.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)