UP National Award for Water Management
Uttar Pradesh has been awarded the National Water Award for its outstanding work in the field of water management and conservation. Uttar Pradesh ranks second in the country for its excellent work in water conservation and water management as well as providing piped water connection to every household in rural areas. President Draupadi Murmu recognized this achievement of UP at the 5th National Water Awards Programme, held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Namami Gange and Principal Secretary, Rural Water Supply Department Anurag Srivastava and Housing Commissioner Dr. Balkar Singh received the National Water Award from President Draupadi Murmu on behalf of Uttar Pradesh. In the best states category, Odisha ranks first, while Gujarat and Puducherry share the third rank.
President Draupadi Murmu expressed his appreciation
On this occasion, President Draupadi Murmu expressed his appreciation for the innovative experiments in running water supply and water conservation in every household. During the program, Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil also praised the work done by Uttar Pradesh in providing piped water connection to every household in Bundelkhand and Vindhya districts and in conserving water.
UP more awards
In addition to water conservation and water management, Uttar Pradesh has set a record of providing piped water to every household in the state’s 17,900 villages in the fastest time by 2023. In 2023, during his tenure as Director Groundwater and Minister Nam Ganga, Dr. Balkar Singh conducted many innovative experiments in water conservation and water resources management. In addition to water management, farmers also benefit from irrigation.
A total of more than 6,000 barrages and more than 1,000 ponds were constructed to improve the state’s irrigation system. Apart from this, rainwater harvesting facilities have been constructed on 31,360 government buildings to save water. In 2022-2023, 5 blocks were removed from the overexploitation and severe categories. The average groundwater level in 34 cities has improved.
water body improvement
27,368 traditional water bodies have been renovated across the state. Built in 17279 by Amrit Sarovars. That is why the then Director of Groundwater, Secretary Dr. Namimi Gangbalkar Singh and Additional Chief Secretary Namimi Gange were present to accept the award from the President.
Under the Har Ghar Jal Yojana of Jal Jeevan Mission, Uttar Pradesh has provided piped water connections to 20,270,770 rural households as of October 22, 2024. As a result, 13.66 billion villagers have access to pure drinking water. Earlier recently, the National Sanitation and Drinking Water Mission also won the Best of Show Award at the International Trade Show.
