By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Roorkee, 18 Jan: On the 45th anniversary of the Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS), a three-day international conference on the future of water resources started today in collaboration with the Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS) and the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, IIT Roorkee.
The programme started with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp and singing of the ‘Kulgeet’.
Addressing the inaugural session, Vice President of the Indian Water Resources Committee and Head of the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Prof Ashish Pandey said,
“Today, the Water Resources Committee has completed 45 years. In these years, the Committee has done a lot of work in the field of water quantity and quality in the country and society.” He added that the Water Resources and Management Department, which was established in 1955, earlier was a water resources development and training centre.
He added, “We have recently established a new section as Drinking Water and Sanitation in our department. We are working with the Water Resources Committee on many water projects in the country and abroad.”
Chief Guest Prof VP Singh, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the International Conference, said representatives related to water resources not only from the country but also from foreign countries are participating in this conference. He added that water is the most important element in body. Therefore, efforts are needed to solve every type of water problem through technical and non-technical means. Teaching subjects related to hydrology should start at the school level. Secretary of Deen Dayal Research Institute, Atul Jain said, “We go from village to village and listen to the problems on water and rural development from the people and try to solve it.” He termed it as two-way education because they also learned a lot from the villages.
Director of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Prof RP Singh highlighted the importance of remote sensing to better monitor and accurately measure rainfall and soil moisture in the coming days.
Acting Director of IIT Roorkee, Prof Apoorva Kumar Sharma, declared that the basis of the establishment of IIT Roorkee was the development of water resources.
Indian Water Resources Committee awards were also presented at the programme.
The event was conducted and the vote of thanks proposed by Prof Kritika Kothari, Treasurer of Water Resources Committee and Assistant Professor of Water Resources Department.
Committee Secretary Prof Basant Yadav, Prof Mohit Mohanty, Prof ML Kansal, Prof Deepak Khare, Sandeep Chaurasia, Sumit Vishwakarma, Dhananjay Paswan, Rohtash Kumar, Alok Shukla and others were present at the event.
