The State Water Resources and Drinking Water and Hygiene Minister Ramchandra Sahis handed over a memorandum to the Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Ganjendra Singh Shekhavat on Saturday demanding handing over the jurisdiction of Masanjore Dam to Jharkhand.
He said that despite the dam being on the land of Jharkhand, its jurisdiction is under the West Bengal Government as a result of which Jharkhand is not being benefitted from the dam.
The memorandum was handed over to the minister when Shekhavat along with Union Minister for State for Jal Shakti Ratan Lal Katariya participated in a review meeting of Jal Shakti Ministry in Ranchi on Saturday.
During the meeting, Shekhavat encouraged the State Government to prepare concrete and complete proposals for water conservation and storage and assured that the centre will sponsor them.
"Every drop of water is important. The priority of the Centre is to ensure that water is not wasted which is why a number of schemes for rain water harvesting have been rolled out. We have to increase the ground water level at any cost so that our future generations do not have to face water crisis," he said.
Shekhavat directed the officials to ensure that the Jal Shakti projects are implemented in the given timeframe. "Delay in implementation of projects leads to increase in the budget and also prevents the benefits from reaching the people. The centre is ready to provide all help needed to the State Government," he said.
The Union Minister also directed the State government to organize third party assessments for various ongoing Jal Shakti projects to ensure that they are of benefit to people.
He also directed to ensure coordination between all the concerned departments before launching the various projects under Jal Shakti. The minister emphasized on promoting small projects for water conservation instead of big ones.
The State department officials informed the ministers about the progress of various projects running in the State including Suvernarekha Project, Uttar Koyal Nadi Project, Budhai Project, Konar Nahar Project and others and sought helped from the Centre to complete them.
Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda said that centre's Jal Shakti Abhiyan is very useful for a State like Jharkhand. "Jharkhand witnesses an average of 1200 mm rainfall but as it is a hilly area most of the rain water is wasted. This rainwater can now be preserved under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan," he said.
Munda informed the Union Minister that while the Centre had approved of starting the project in two districts, the State government is implementing it in 263 blocks of all the 24 districts.
Chief Secretary DK Tiwari informed the ministers about the various projects under Jal Shakti Abhiyan being implemented in the State. He informed taht the movement is being organized in the State from July 1 to August 15 which has witnessed huge public participation. The work of constructing trench cum bund under the project is being done in all the Panchayats for gorund water recharge.
"A total of 1.7 crore saplings have been planted across the State and 820 check dams and 13,375 recharge pits are being constructed. Saplings have already been planted in a total of 1366 km stretch on the banks of 44 rivers across the State and the government's target is to cover 274 kms this year and 305 kms in 2020," he said.