The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `State shows the way in rainwater harvesting'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 17, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`State shows the way in rainwater harvesting'

Staff Reporter

Barnala's pat for local bodies

UDHAGAMANDALAM: : Tamil Nadu takes pride in its successful implementation of the rainwater harvesting scheme, the Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, said on Saturday.

The elected representatives of local bodies, non-governmental organisations and the people joined hands with the Government in the exercise, setting an example for other States. As many parts of the country faced a water crisis during the summer, rainwater harvesting should be promoted in urban as well as rural areas.

He was inaugurating a seminar, "The Earth - Vision 2020", organised by the Rotary Club of Nilgiris West and the Good Shepherd International School at M. Palada near here.

Interlinking of river

Dr. Barnala said interlinking of rivers would help the country control floods and droughts. It would also prevent water wastage and benefit agriculture. As there was a severe shortage of farmland, intensive farming and multiple cropping were necessary to meet the foodgrain requirements of a burgeoning population. A people's movement was needed to preserve the nature and safeguard the environment. The youth should play a major role in it to ensure the well being of posterity. The consumption of 80 per cent of the world's resources by 20 per cent of the population was causing an irreparable damage to the earth's finite resources, he said.

M.R. Srinivasan, chairman, organising committee, said that with the rapid industrial growth and the advent of consumption economy in the country, "we cannot assume that nature can absorb the impact and correct itself". Water management was one of the priority areas. The over-exploitation of groundwater was lowering the water table. There was an urgent need to select a proper cropping pattern for judicious use of water.

The Atomic Energy Commission of India Chairman, Anil Kakodkar, who spoke on "Desalination and Solid Waste Management", said that to tackle the environmental problems, imaginative policies, an integrated approach, administrative reorientation and a strong political will were needed.

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