Indian Chamber of Commerce organizes water management conclave in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) organised a water management conclave in Guwahati today.

In his welcome address, the chairman of the Assam and Meghalaya State Council of the ICC, Sarat Kumar Jain, said that “water is the source of life. All ancient civilizations grew around sustainable water resources, which helped them to survive and thrive. Water is crucial for food security, trade and transportation, industrialization and the ecological balance of our planet Earth’.

Jain also stated that to set the context for water as a life force in today’s world, we can refer to the World Bank data: “Almost fifty percent of the developing world’s population—2.5 billion people—lacks improved sanitation facilities, and almost 1 billion people still use unsafe drinking water sources, and even those with access often receive unsafe and inadequate service.”

Ashok Singhal, Minister, Department of Housing, Urban Affairs, and Irrigation, Government of Assam, spoke about the numerous initiatives taken by the Assam government to solve the water crisis in various cities and towns of the state. He said that the state is blessed with abundant water resources and can easily be supplied with proper technology and public-private initiatives. Singhal stated that the people of the Northeast have the highest per capita water resources in the country. “But we face some problems in the dry season. Our forefathers lived with nature for their survival, but now we human beings want nature to live with us and want to manage it. This is the root cause of all the problems that we are facing, like scarcity of groundwater, floods, erosion, etc.,” he said.

Lalnilawma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Horticulture, and Public Health Engineering, Government of Mizoram, who also attended the conclave, explained about the numerous challenges faced by the hilly state of Mizoram and government initiatives to mitigate them. He said that the situation in his state is alarming as the rivers are drying up fast due to deforestation, pollution, etc.

“The right approach that we need to take now is integrated water management with proper use,” Syedain Abbasi, Special Chief Secretary, Department of Public Health Engineering & Water Resources, Government of Assam, said. He urged for more technologies and investment to tap the immense water resources in the state. Abbasi stated that the issues in the Northeast are different from those in the rest of the country, a press release said.

 Also Read: Emphasis on holistic and inclusive approaches to water management laid in Gargaon College (sentinelassam.com)

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