Consultation on draft water policy
SHILLONG: The KHADC is yet to respond to the Water Resources department’s invitation for holding consultation on the revised draft of the proposed Water Policy.
Stating this here on Friday, official sources said that the department will send another reminder to the KHADC on this issue.
Interestingly, KHADC CEM Adelbert Nongrum recently said that he was not aware of any letter sent by the department for holding the consultation exercise.
This is the not the first time that the KHADC has failed to respond to the call of the State Government. The Council had earlier failed to give its views and suggestions to the committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Rowell Lyngdoh which was asked to work on the amendments to further strengthen the existing Prohibition of Benami Transaction Act, 1980 and to make suggestions for improvement of the Tenants Verification Draft Bill.
Meanwhile, official sources informed that the department had completed the consultation exercise with the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC).
“We have received valuable suggestions from the JHADC during the consultation exercise,” official sources said.
According to the official, the views and suggestion of the district council will be crucial for the finalization of the policy. After consultations with the ADCs, the department would also hold talks with the various stakeholders and traditional institutions on the revised draft.
“We would not rush to finalize the policy. We want to make the draft of the policy elaborative by including the views of all the concerned stakeholders,” the official sources said adding that the draft policy has been re-circulated among all the Government departments. The draft policy has also been put in the public domain inviting views and suggestions.
Earlier, the State Government had roped in German International Cooperation (GIZ) to formulate the Water Policy.
