H.E. Sh. Shriniwas Patil, Governor of Sikkim was gracious enough to take out time from his schedule to meet Dr. Arvind Kumar president India water foundation. They shared the concern on climate change and rapid urbanization in Sikkim. While talking with H. E Dr. Kumar expressed a need for a centre of excellence in the state to cater to the various needs of not only sustainable water supply and water conservation but also for spring revival, multi utility reservoirs, small hydro grid and also water as a sustainable goal which helps to create alternative livelihood using bottom up approach and inputs and funding from various international and UN organizations and Union govt. to develop entrepreneurship and sustainable livelihood in Sikkim like we did in Meghalaya to combat the futuristic requirements.
India water foundation also conducted a Two day training workshop on “Application & Uses of Hydro Geomorphologic Maps (HGMs) for Ground Water Prospection” on 25th – 26thNovember 2016 at Janta Bhawan, Diesel Power House, Below SNT, Gangtok-737101, East Sikkim conducted as National Key resource Centre, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India.
In the inauguration ceremony the guests present were Mr. Bhupendra Kothari superintendent engineer RM & DD, Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Sikkim, Dr Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation, Dr. S. C. Dhiman, Former Chairman, CGWB, Dr. S K Sharma, Former Member, CGWB and Ms. Shweta Tyagi, Executive Secretary, India Water Foundation.
In his address Mr. Kothari applauded the efforts of India Water foundation and encouraged the delegates to be interactive and motivated them to have productive two days of training workshop.
While welcoming the dignitaries and speaking on the occasion Dr. Arvind Kumar, President, India Water Foundation, talked about the need of sharing knowledge between central and state governments, organizations and various other agencies to enable bringing all the stakeholders on a common knowledge platform and enable forward linkage with Sustainable Development Goal -6, which envisages achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all. Dr. Arvind Kumar laid emphasis on the practical implementation of available technologies and knowledge along-with the convergence of the line departments and all other stakeholders to positively impact outcomes. He talked about a dire need to have a planned road map for water security plan. Dr. Kumar being the member Meghalaya water resources council mentioned the Meghalaya Model here where the convergence of top down and bottoms up approach has brought the various departments to work together for a common outcome. He emphasized the fact that such trainings while enhancing the current engineering solutions would also support and help newer techno
logy adoptions.
In the valedictory session certificates and training module pendrives were distributed to the delegates alongwith the India Water Foundation team also present were Sh. P K Pradhan Addl. Chief Engineer RMDD, Gangtok, Sikkim and Sh. Bhupendra Kothari superintendent engineer RM & DD, Department of Panchayati Raj, Government of Sikkim.
