Govts of Tamil Nadu, J-K resolve to make joint efforts towards water conservation

In a two-day regional conference on 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' here, the governments of Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday resolved to make concerted efforts towards water conservation and disaster management. The deliberations of the conference concluded here with the adoption of 'Sahyog-Sankalp' resolution.

About 350 delegates attended the conference which was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with the governments of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. During the two-day conference, six technical sessions were held on wide ranging issues, including rejuvenation of rivers Cauvery and Jhelum, reducing water consumption in agriculture and urban flooding, an official spokesman said.

Several interactive sessions were held in every module to provide participants an opportunity to attain a better understanding of various topics covered in the programme, he said. He said in the conference, the governments of Tamil Nadu and the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh resolved to collaborate to promote unity in diversity envisaged under the 'Ek Bharat - Shreshtha Bharat' programme.

It resolved to 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, and hold regional conferences throughout the year, alternatively, he said. The first of these conferences would be convened in Chennai in 2020 by the DARPG, where officials from the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will present the progress registered and achievements made in the areas of water conservation and disaster management, share technical expertise in the areas of water harvesting and preventing urban flooding and rejuvenation of rivers, among other issues, the spokesman said.

The valedictory session of the conference was co-chaired by advisors to the lieutenant governor K K Sharma and Farooq Khan, who released the 'Sahyog-Sankalp' (Cooperation-Declaration) resolution in the presence of Additional Secretary, DARPG, V Srinivas, Deputy Secretary, DARPG, Renu Arora and Secretary, Disaster Management, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole. Advisor Sharma said the 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 the Union Territory. Advisor 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.

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