To check pollution and generating water for irrigation purposes, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday sought Israel’s cooperation in enabling recycling of sewerage water in five major cities of the state.
A statement issued here said the Chief Minister held extensive talks in Jerusalem with Israel’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources Dr Yuval Steinitz on the issue of water management to boost water conservation in Punjab.
Impressed with the fact that 95 percent of sewerage water was being recycled for agriculture in Israel, Capt Amarinder said that Punjab would like to do the same in urban areas.
The statement added that Capt Amarinder apprised the Israeli Minister of the problems being faced by Punjab on the water front as a result of its depleting water table caused by melting glaciers. While Punjab was power surplus, water resources remained a challenge for the State, which was trying to get out of the paddy-wheat cycle to save this precious resource, he said.
Dr Steinitz said that Israel would be happy to extend all possible support in this regard, while underlining the need for proper water management through assessment of total requirement and availability.
He pointed out that Israel was having its fifth year of drought but was managing its water needs through various measures, such as double desalination, to meet 80 percent of its domestic water need.
Regulating water distribution was the crux of water management, said the Minister, stressing the need for educating people in this regard.
The Chief Minister invited the Minister to visit Punjab to further strengthen the cooperation between the two sides.
Capt Amarinder later visited various sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Indian Hospice — an over 800-year-old memorial that is revered by Indian Muslims as a shrine in the memory of Hazrat Farid ud-Din Ganj Shakar, or Baba Farid as he is popularly known.
The hospice was gifted by the locals to the Sufi saint, who hailed from Punjab’s Faridkot, and is believed to have stayed in Jerusalem for some time.
Earlier, as part of his efforts to woo Israeli investment and business, the Chief Minister on Tuesday evening extended his government’s full support to Israeli companies ready to invest in the state across sectors.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Investment Opportunities in Punjab’, organized in Tel Aviv by the Embassy of India in collaboration with the Israel-Asia Chamber of Commerce, the Chief Minister said that besides offering cheap power and single window clearances, the State has excellent communication and transport linkages to boost ease of business.
With four airports, Punjab is the gateway to the Middle East, the Chief Minister told a galaxy of top-level business honchos at the seminar, at which Invest Punjab made a detailed presentation to showcase the strengths that make the state a favoured business destination for global players.
“We will be there to receive you with open arms when you come to Punjab, and will help you with your business endeavours,” said the Chief Minister, expressing hope that the event will be instrumental in further strengthening Punjab’s relations with Israel.
In response to a question, the Chief Minister said that his government was focusing in a big way on incentivizing solar power projects. Capt Amarinder said that his government was looking at installing solar motor pumps in the fields and had already made solar systems compulsory for new buildings.
Underlining Punjab’s role in building India’s food security over the past 40 years, the Chief Minister said the depleting water table was now threatening to destroy the state’s agricultural prowess. He stressed the need to diversify crop cultivation in the state to get it out of the wheat-paddy cycle and said that Israel’s drip irrigation technology was a laudable initiative that Punjab could adopt to its advantage.