Conceived last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet mission ‘Amrit Sarovar’ is moving full steam with a battery of people from various walks of life such as freedom fighters, senior members of panchayats, family members of martyrs and Padma awardees engaged in developing 50,000 water bodies across the country by August 15 this year, of which 80 per cent have already come up till date.
“In the last 11 months, around 40,000 water bodies have been developed under the Mission Amrit Sarovar across the country. The Mission aims at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country as part of the "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav".
“On every 15th August, National Flag hoisting will be organised on every Amrit Sarovar site,” said an official from the Union Ministry of Rural Development, a nodal ministry overseeing the project.
Talking about the people’s participation, he said that “ so far at least 1,784 freedom fighters, 18,173 eldest members of panchayats, 448 family members of freedom fighters, 684 family members of martyrs and 56 Padma awardees have already participated to develop 40,000 water bodies.
Taking people's participation as an important component under the scheme, 54,088 user groups were formed for developing the water bodies which will be known as Amrit Sarovars. These user groups are involved in feasibility assessment, execution and its utilization, he explained.
As of now 66 percent of user groups are engaged in agriculture, 21 percent in fisheries, six percent are involved in water chestnut and lotus cultivation and seven percent of the groups are involved in animal husbandry.
The Mission is boosting rural livelihood as the completed water bodies have been identified for activities like irrigation, fisheries, cultivation of water chestnut and animal husbandry. It also aims at qualitative implementation and development of water bodies as a hub of local community activities and convergence with different ministries for the job, he said.