By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya on Friday became the first state in the country to have a draft water policy with the state Cabinet approving it.
Talking to media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the Draft Meghalaya State Water Policy 2019 was approved by the Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma following a detailed discussion and deliberations. The government will notify the policy soon, he added.
The deputy chief minister said that the objective of the policy is to achieve sustainable development, management and use of water resources with community participation to improve health, livelihood and reducing vulnerability while assuring of good governance for present and future generations through integrated water resources management and environment sustainability.
Protection of the catchment areas and water pollution and other issues have been outlined in the policy which lays stress on active participation of the community since the land in Meghalaya belongs to the people and the clan, Tynsong said.
“Community participation will be fully honoured as we want to go down to the village level with the policy,” he said.
Furthermore, water sanitation village committees will also be constituted in the pattern of village employment council, adding that the policy will go a long way in changing the mindset of the people as far as proper utilisation of water is concerned.
Asserting that there are disputes in India and abroad over water, he said that the issue of ground water also features in the policy since it needs to be controlled.
Once the policy is in place, the government would have data about the number of flowing rivers and springs and even issues of ground water will be addressed.
As Meghalaya is a hilly state, the rain water goes directly to Bangladesh. However, through the water policy, the water resources department has given much importance on the need to construct check dams depending on detailed research to be done by experts.
“When we create check dams, we want to see that each check dam becomes multipurpose reservoir for the benefit of the people” Tynsong said.
The department has also taken care of acidic water and high content of iron in water in the policy.
