GUWAHATI: Following the recommendations of NITI Aayog on capacity building of state agencies for springshed rejuvenation programmes while keeping the importance of these water pygmies in view, the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Government of India have initiated various activities on springshed management in the Northeastern region.
The North Eastern Hydraulic and Allied Research Institute (NEHARI), an arm of the Brahmaputra Board, organized a five-day training workshop on 'Springshed Management' in association with the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) on October 3 and 7. The training workshop was inaugurated on October 3 by Dr. SV Vijaya Kumar, Scientist 'G' and Head, North East Regional Centre, NIH, Guwahati; Biplab Ray, Head of Office, CGWB, NER, Guwahati; SS Rawat, Scientist-'F',NIH and Er. RanjitDeka, Director, NEHARI. In their inaugural address, Dr. SV Vijaya Kumar and Biplab Ray stressed the need for springshed management in the Northeastern States.
The course of the programme is tailored for junior to mid-level officers of government departments related to the land and water resources sector serving the North East Region (NER). 28 government officials serving in the North Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram have participated in the training workshop. A total of 24 lectures, including four field lectures, were delivered by the scientists of NIH and CGWB on various topics pertaining to springshed management.
Scientists Dr. K Radhapyari, Shasinlo Kent, Mophi Mili, and Dr. DJ Khound from CGWB also delivered important lectures on the genesis of spring and springshed management in the context of the North Eastern states of India. Dr. DS Bisht, Scientist -'C', NIH, conducted a hands-on exercise for data collection using an open-source mobile application. Dr. Waikhom Rahul Singh, Scientist-D, and Siddharth Arora, Scientist-B, served as resource persons from NIH to deliver important lectures on Springshed management and conducted a hands-on exercise on digital data creation, handling, and processing using open source GIS software. Dr. Suresh A. Kartha, Professor, IIT-Guwahati, also delivered a case study-based lecture on "Investigation of Springs and Their Recharge Zones in Eight Villages of the Poma River Basin".
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