Summary Record of Proceedings of National Water Resources ...

was protecting forests in spite of its impact on implementation of development schemes, andtherefore, States like Uttarakhand should be given Green Bonus. He emphasized constructionof check dams and small dams for water conservation and stressed that at least 50% of waterrequirement of urban areas should be met through rain water harvesting. He informed that theState of Uttarakhand was in the process of setting up of a Water Regulation Authority and askedfor relaxation in the norms of Central Assistance in view of typical geological setting of hillyStates like Uttarakhand. The full text of his speech is at Annex - XXI.Shri Raghunath Mohanty, Minister, Housing and Urban Development, Odishaexpressed concern that inter-state water disputes were not being resolved within the frameworkof law and adequate regard was not being paid towards the riparian rights of the differentstakeholders, particularly, with reference to the Polavaram Project. He informed that forsustainable uses of water resources, river basin plans of all river basins and river basinorganization in one of the river basin had been set up in Odisha. He brought out the difficultiesin meeting the time schedule stipulated in AIBP Guidelines since execution of major andmedium irrigation projects were unduly delayed due to problems of resettlement andrehabilitation, land acquisition, forest and environmental clearances, etc. He also asked forCentral assistance for pre project activities, such as, land acquisition and rehabilitation & resettlement.He urged the Central Government to constitute a Task Force to examine theproblems of flood, drainage congestion and coastal erosion of Odisha. The speech of ShriNaveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha is at Annex – XXII.Shri A.L. Hek, Minister, Water Resources Department, Meghalaya highlighted thesteps taken by his State for better management of water resources. He stated that the lack ofeffective water resources management in the past had resulted in soil erosion and landdegradation in the hills and silting of river bodies. Better convergence, better governance andhigher participation of the community in the developmental efforts had, therefore, been madecentral to the holistic development initiatives. He informed that efforts were being made tocomprehensively map the water resources in different watersheds, catchment, sub basins andbasins and promote structures as well as management framework to tap and use the samewater resources along the cascades for different purposes, such as, drinking, water supply,aquaculture, tourism, irrigation, hydel-power and ground water recharge. He proposed thatBrahmaputra Board may be substituted with a Regional Water Management Authority havingdecentralized effective presence in each State Capital of North East region. He proposed10