TURA : West Garo HiIls Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh on Wednesday attended as the Chief Guest the District Level launching of “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls, When it Falls” an Awareness Generation Campaign for Conservation of water at DRDA Conference Hall in Tura.
The programme was organised by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, West Garo Hills Tura in collaboration with the National Water Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Government of India.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh while highlighting the topography of the region, emphasized on the need to focus on water conservation and rain water harvesting in the area. He lamented that though the region receives good amount of rainfall during the monsoon, the water is not collected and people face water crisis during the lean season. This could have been avoided, if rain water harvesting is done, he said and added that massive plantation activities in and around the water sources and catchment areas need to be done in order to protect and conserve water sources in the area.
Meanwhile, District Youth Officer, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Tura Anwesha Bhattacharya highlighted the aims and objectives of the campaign “Catch the Rain” and informed that as per the preparatory phase of Jal Shakti Abhiyan, the Ministry has involved Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NKYS) to undertake this awareness building campaign through various IEC activities which includes education and motivational programs, mass awareness campaigns, knowledge competitions among others. She said that the NKYS would also prepare an action plan for conservation of water to be taken up in the next phase of the campaign by holding meetings with the district administration, line departments, volunteers and other stakeholders. Pointing out that the suggested activities of the campaign is to store rain water by making water harvesting pits, rooftop rain water harvesting structures, repairing of traditional water harvesting structures like wells, etc, she said that the main function of NYKS is to engage people at the grassroot level through effective campaigning and IEC activities for successful implementation of the campaign.
Earlier during the function, the Chief Guest along with other District Officials unveiled the posters and IEC materials for promoting “Catch the Rain” Campaign. The Chief Guest also administered the Water Pledge to save and conserve water and its judicious use by encouraging friends, neighbours and family members to use water properly and save it for our future generation.