UP gets National Award for best water management, President Draupadi Murmu honored – Read

Uttar Pradesh has been awarded the National Water Award for its excellent work in the field of water management and water conservation. Uttar Pradesh has been ranked second in the country for its excellent work in water conservation and water management along with providing tap connections to every household in rural areas. President Draupadi Murmu honored UP for this achievement in the fifth National Water Award program organized at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

On behalf of Uttar Pradesh, Namami Gange and Additional Chief Secretary of Rural Water Supply Department Anurag Srivastava and Housing Commissioner Dr. Balkar Singh received the National Water Award from President Draupadi Murmu. In the category of best state, Orissa got first place and Gujarat and Puducherry jointly got third place.

President Draupadi Murmu appreciated

On this occasion, President Draupadi Murmu praised the work done in the campaign to provide tap water to every household and the innovative experiments done in the direction of water conservation. During the program, Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil also praised the work done by Uttar Pradesh towards providing tap connections to every household in Bundelkhand and Vindhya region and water conservation.

More awards for UP

Along with water conservation and water management, Uttar Pradesh had set the record of providing tap water to every house in 17900 villages of the state in the fastest time in 2023. In 2023, while being Director Ground Water and Secretary Namami Gange, Dr. Balkar Singh had done many innovative experiments for water conservation and water management. Along with water management, farmers also got the benefit in irrigation.

To improve the irrigation system in the state, a total of more than 6000 check dams and 1000 ponds were constructed. Apart from this, rain water harvesting structures were constructed on 31360 government buildings for water conservation. In 2022 to 2023, 5 blocks were removed from overexploited and critical category. Also, the average groundwater level of 34 cities improved.

Renovation of water bodies

27,368 traditional water bodies were renovated in the state. 17279 Amrit Sarovars were constructed. This was the reason why the then Director Ground Water, Secretary Namami Gange Dr. Balkar Singh was present along with Additional Chief Secretary Namami Gange to receive the award from the President.

Under the Har Ghar Jal Yojana of Jal Jeevan Mission, Uttar Pradesh has provided tap connections to 2 crore 27 lakh 77 thousand 194 rural families by October 22, 2024. Due to which pure drinking water is being provided to 13.66 crore villagers. Earlier recently, the State Sanitation and Drinking Water Mission was also honored with the Best Display Award in the International Trade Show.