Initiatives taken to harvest rain water: Soz

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz today said his ministry was proactively pursuing initiatives to harvest rain water through approprite techniques for sustainable management of water resources.

Addressing Parliamentary Consultative Committee of his ministry on Rain Water Harvesting, he said the techniques provided huge scope for harnessing a large amount of water, which otherwise reaches the sea. Uadequate reacharging of rain water and over exploitation of ground water would lead to its depletion. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) had identified an area of 500,000 sq km for artificial recharging of 36.5 billion cubic metres of surplus run off water annually.

He told the MPs that the ministry had launched a massive scheme for repair, renovation and restoration of water bodies, to help agriculture, in 2004-05 to be executed during the 10th five-year plan at a cost of Rs 300 crores.

CGWB Chairman briefed the MPs about the scheme. Those who attended the meeting included Mr S P Y Reddy, Mr N S V Chittan, Mr Manjunath Kunur, Mr Raghuraj Singh, Mohammad Maqueem, Hitn Barman, Pratik Prakash Bapu Patil, Dr Gyan Prakash Pilania and Mrs N P Durga.

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