• 12 thousand water sources in the state have dried up, which is a matter of great concern for the future.
• The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Amit Pandey

• Dehradun, Uttarakhand cabinet on Monday approved the proposal for setting up the state lavel spring and River Rejuvenation Authority ( SARA) and creation on the post for the same in the state. According to the officials aware of the development in the meeting, SARA is being established in the view of the need for integrated implementation of rain water harvesting techniques such as check dams at the state level and the work is underway by various departments for the conservation and revival of springs and rivers in state. SARA will be registered under the Society Registration Act 1860, and a total of 195 different posts have been created for it.

Under SARA, a High Powered Committee ( HPC) will be formed under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, which will be approve the formulation of guiding principles for the execution of all the work related to the planing, approval, implementation and coordination of the schemes.

Uttarakhand is known for its many evergreen rivers irrigating the plains of North India. The state has a wide network of 213 rivers, including glaciers and rainfed ones.Water from rivers and many water sources together increases the flow in these rivers, but according to an estimate, about 12 thousand water sources in the state have dried up, which is a matter of great concern for the future.
So far, the departments of forest, planning, finance, agriculture, rural development, drinking water, irrigation, minor irrigation, revenue, Panchayati raj and urban development along with non-governmental organizations are working in their own way to save the rivers, but they are not getting the desired results.

It is known that in the past, concerns were raised on this issue at the level of Chief Secretary Dr. SS Sandhu. Then came the idea of a unified agency to conserve, revive the streams and other water bodies. Now the exercise has started. With the formation of the agency, work will be done in a better way towards water conservation.