Uttarakhand

• 03 Oct 2023

Sara will Beautify the Streams and Water Sources of Uttarakhand

Why In News?

On October 2, 2023, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand, Anand Vardhan informed that a unified agency is set to be formed to preserve and revive the rivers and crevices embedded in the culture and tradition of Uttarakhand. For this, an exercise is being done to form a Spring shed and River Rejuvenation Agency (SARA) at the government level.

Key Points:

• Additional Chief Secretary, Anand Vardhan informed that an exercise has been started to preserve and revive the rivers in the state. For this, a proposal has been prepared to set up a springs hand and river rejuvenation agency (SARA). It will be presented soon at the level of Chief Secretary. After this, the proposal will be sent to the Cabinet for approval.
• Water management has been entrusted with the responsibility. With the formation of a unified agency, various departments working on the salvation of the naule-dhars will be able to work together under one umbrella.
• After the formation of SARA, a high-power committee will be formed at the state level, district level executive committee in the districts and Dhara Naula conservation committee at the village level.
• These committees will map rain-fed rivers along all the streams across the state. Then works like identification of sensitive water sources, construction of check dams, planting of plants for rainwater conservation, construction of chawls and skins will be done. For this, the public will also be made partners in their treatment.
• Uttarakhand is known for its many evergreen rivers irrigating the plains of North India. The state has a wide network of 213 rivers, including glaciers and rainfed ones.
• Water from rivers and many water sources together increases the flow in these rivers, but according to an estimate, about 12 thousand water sources in the state have dried up, which is a matter of great concern for the future.
• So far, the departments of forest, planning, finance, agriculture, rural development, drinking water, irrigation, minor irrigation, revenue, Panchayati raj and urban development along with non-governmental organizations are working in their own way to save the rivers, but they are not getting the desired results.
• It is known that in the past, concerns were raised on this issue at the level of Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu. Then came the idea of a unified agency to conserve, revive the streams and other water bodies. Now the exercise has started. With the formation of the agency, work will be done in a better way towards water conservation.