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Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Minister of Water Resources, has announced a nationwide programme to restore degraded water bodies, which should triple the coverage under irrigation in the minor irrigation sector. Inaugurating the stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry facilities in Roorkee today, he expressed satisfaction about the development of the world-class laboratory facilities at National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) in the area of isotope hydrology. Earlier, inaugurating a three-day International Conference on Hydrological Perspective for Sustainable Development at the campus of Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, the Water Resources Minister observed that the conference was timely in view of the complex challenges that the water resources sector is facing at present. The scourge of famine has largely been banished in independent India through the application of science and technology for development of water resources, he added.
Observing that floods and droughts, which are yet to be tackled in a comprehensive manner, Shri Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi appealed to the scientific community and the engineers to devote their time to come up with manageable solutions to tackle floods and droughts. In this context, he referred to the commitment of the present Government to address these problems in a holistic manner and hinted at a possible strategy to be announced after the budget.
Later, addressing the scientists of the National Institute of Hydrology, Shri Dasmunsi called on them to prepare themselves for the future challenges and assured all help from his Government and informed that water is a high priority area of the present Government and informed that the Ministry of Water Resources is constituting a committee under Additional Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources for providing necessary help, assistance and support to NIH.
RJ/AS
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