GUWAHATI: A meeting to discuss the formulation of state water policy was held on Monday February 17, under the chairmanship of Dipok Kumar Barthakur, Vice-Chairman, State Innovation and Transformation Aayog (SITA) and members of the Advisory and Consultancy Division, North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi).
A presentation was shown by the NEDFi team emphasizing the issues that the water policy would be addressing viz., a well-developed information system, assessment of present water availability, projection for future water requirements, basin and sub-basin wide water resources planning, institutional mechanism, water allocation priorities such as drinking water, irrigation, hydro-power and other uses, development of multipurpose projects, ground water development, etc.
Kashi Nath Hazarika, member of governing body of SITA, said that the formulation team should prioritize the policies on how to implement and to make parameters on how it can be pursued with a clear visibility of the impact so that it can be implemented successfully.
Further, Dr. Radhabinod Barman, member of governing body of SITA, also suggested that the study should have a database as deliverable and a seminar should be considered where a presentation should be made explaining the methodology in details.
Members also discussed involvement of knowledge partners like Sociology Department, Tezpur University, IIT-Guwahati and other such institutions having an in-depth knowledge and research ability on the subject to support the project.
Dipok Kumar Barthakur, advised members of NEDFi to come up with a detailed project proposal on broader aspects covering the future requirements of the state.
(With inputs from PTI)
