Training Programme on ‘Water Availability and Management at Local Level’ held at the Central University of Punjab

Bathinda, December 15, 2022: The Dept. of Geology at the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), North Western Region, Chandigarh jointly organized a one-day Tier-III Training Programme on "Water Availability and its Management at local Level". The program was conducted under the patronage of Vice Chancellor Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari. The Chief Guest and distinguished guests of this programme were Anurag Khanna, Regional Director, CGWB, Chandigarh and Dinesh Tiwari, Scientist-E and TS, CGWB, Chandigarh respectively. Seema Rani, Sarpanch, Village Ghudda, also graced this programme as the special guest. More than 125 participants attended this programme.

At the outset, Dr. Sunil Mittal, Dean, School of Environment and Earth Sciences, welcomed the participants.

The distinguished guest, Shri Dinesh Tiwari (Scientists E and TS, CGWB), stressed the importance of rainwater conservation and effective use in India, where 17.5 percent of the world's population lives on only 2.4 percent of the world's land area and is heavily reliant on the monsoon. He said that efforts should be made to recharge the groundwater level, which is sharply declining. In Punjab, approximately 80 percent of places have already overexploited their groundwater, which is an important source of fresh water for this region. He highlighted that CGWB is committed to sensitising people about the development of ponds and the construction of 75 Amrit Sarovar in each district of Punjab to recharge our groundwater level.

The Chief Guest, Anurag Khanna (Regional Director, CGWB, Chandigarh), discussed the various activities and programmes conducted by CGWB to improve groundwater levels in this region. He said that we have to make judicious use of water for our daily life necessities, contract water tanks to collect rainwater, revive ponds at the village and district levels, and manage our set water treatment plants for the re-use of wastewater to accomplish our objective of water conservation. He made an appeal to farmers to adopt crop diversification practices and use mulching and direct seeding techniques to reduce water consumption in the irrigation sector.

Prof. Raghavendra P. Tiwari, the Vice-Chancellor, stated in his presidential address that the increase in population and development activities have led to constant contamination of groundwater and decreased groundwater levels. He shed light on the arrangement of water conservation facilities at the Central University of Punjab and exhorted that each one of us needs to recharge our groundwater level by reusing wastewater from our houses in gardens and conserving our rainwater in ponds and tanks.

During this one-day programme, CGWD Scientist including Vidya Negi (Scientist-D); Gyanendra Rai (STA, Hydrogeology); and Saquib (STA-Hydrogeology) shared various government schemes for promoting water conservation and emphasised the need for rainwater harvesting as more than half of our rainwater gets wasted. Technical sessions were coordinated by Dr. K.K. Singh.

On this occasion, Dr. Jitendra Kumar Pattnaik, HoD, Dept. of Geology and Dept. of Geography, expressed his gratitude towards the esteemed guests. Dr. Rahul Mukherjee presented the programme and gave a formal vote of thanks towards the end of the program. Faculty, research scholars, students and residents of Village Gudda participated in this programme.