Uttarakhand mulls new water policy

The Uttarakhand government is mulling to accept the recommendations of the Planning Commission for bringing in six departments to deal with water resources in the hill state under a single administrative umbrella.

This is being seen as part of the state government’s move to bring a separate water policy for the hill state. The state planning minister, Prakash Pant has convened a meeting on July 28 to discuss in details the recommendations of the planning commission on the issue. “We are also planning to set up an action group on the matter,” Pant told Business Standard.

There are six departments in Uttarakhand at present dealing with water resources but working under different administrative control in the government. Due to this reason, the water resource planning for different purposes falls mostly into the abyss of dispute causing bottlenecks in the pace of development, said the Uttarakhand Development Report of the planning commission.

To establish synchronisation, all the water resource agencies viz irrigation department, minor irrigation department, watershed management directorate, Jal Vidyut Nigam, Peyjal Nigam and Jal Sansathan should be brought under single administrative umbrella of a water resource ministry, the report emphasised.

“I have gone through this report. Some of the recommendations on the water resources are very significant and we are serious on the integration of the six departments,” Pant said. Top officials of all the six departments are expected to attend the July 28 meeting.

Pant said the draft of the water policy had already been prepared during the previous Congress government. “We are just trying to modify the recommendations in order to give the policy a better shape,” said Pant.

Uttarakhand currently faces huge water scarcity mainly due to unsystematic distribution of water as well as poor management of water resources.