The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday issued a Government Order (GO) merging seven important departments to set up the new Jal Shakti department on the lines of the Union government.

Dr Mahendra Singh, who was recently elevated to the Cabinet rank during the expansion of the council of ministers, has been given the charge of the new department.

Official sources said that seven departments which have been merged to form the Jal Shakti department are Namani Gange, Rural Drinking Water, Irrigation and Water Resources, Rural Engineering Services (RES), Minor Irrigation, Sodic Lands Reclamation and Flood Control.

“This government is committed to fulfilling the dream of the Prime Minister, who has a vision to end water crisis through proper conservation. The focus area has been identified and a blueprint of the project will be laid out soon,” a spokesman told this reporter. 

Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) is a time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign. The JSA will run in two phases. Phase 1, which started from July 1, ends on September 15 in all states and union territories. Phase 2 will run from October 1 to November 30, in all states and UTs receiving retreating monsoon (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu).

“During the campaign, officers, groundwater experts and scientists from Government of India will work with state and district officials in India’s most water-stressed districts for water conservation and water resource management by focusing on accelerated implementation of five target intervention,” the spokesman said. 

He further said that the JSA aimed at making water conservation a ‘jan andolan’ (public movement) through asset creation and extensive communication.