Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Tuesday said that the state is looking forward to work on various water conservation and management projects with Israel. During a meeting with a delegation of Israel regarding water conservation and management in Chandigarh, the chief minister said that Haryana and Israel should work together to seek out the issue of depleting water table and water scarcity. With this initiative, the issues related to water in Haryana and Israel can be solved effectively.
He said that in the situation when water level is depleting in some areas of the state, the state government is constantly working to improve the water table. For this, the Haryana government has constituted the Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority, under which the state government is working to renovate 18,000 ponds. Besides cleaning, the ponds are also being desilted so that maximum recharging of water can be done. Along with this, Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) are being set up across the state and emphasis is being given to use the water of these STPs for agriculture, construction works and gardening purposes. Drip irrigation is also being promoted in agriculture. “The government is taking every possible step to conserve water in the state,” the CM said.
He said that both Israel and Haryana understand the challenges of water conservation and should work together to seek out the ways of water resources and management. Israel is already cooperating with Haryana in the field of agriculture and horticulture. Four Centres of Excellence for Indo-Israel Cooperation are running in Haryana and the fifth centre is being built in Bhiwani. Similarly, some private Indian companies are working in Israel in drip irrigation, he added.
Chief Minister directs to constitute a task force
Chief Minister Manohar Lal directed the Irrigation and Water Resources Department to constitute a task force so that work regarding water management resources can be done with cooperation of Israel. He said that both Haryana and Israel should also come forward to explore new technologies, innovations and challenges. He urged the Israeli delegation to bring projects which can ensure the best use of water resources and preserve the soil fertility even in water shortage.
Israel working on water conservation with farsighted vision
Former Minister of Israel and Chairman of Mekorot, Yitzhak Aharonovich said that Israel is a leading country in water conservation. Despite having a shortage of water, Israel is using quality water management in the agricultural sector. He shared sustainable effective water management and resources solutions with the Haryana government. Yitzhak Aharonovich further said that Israel is working on water conservation with a farsighted vision. He wants to share such projects with Haryana as well.
On this occasion, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, D.S Dhesi; Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority, Keshni Anand Arora; Principal Secretary, Foreign Cooperation Department, Yogender Chaudhry; Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Water Resources, Dr. Satbir Kadian and other members of delegation from Israel were present in the meeting.