Kozhikode: Noting there hundreds of irrigation projects were lying in incomplete in the country for the last several years, Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan today said water management practices needs considerable imporvement.
Inaugurating the third International Geography Congress organised by Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) here, he said `a general problem in our country is that we start too many irrigation projects on public demand without ensuring availability of finances`.
Over the years, we allot only small budgetary provisions for these projects, he said, adding `naturally, the cost of projects rise and in the end we fail to create desired irrigation protential`.
`All over the country, there are hundreds of such projects which are lying in incomplete state for years together. This is gross wastage of resources`, he said.
Emphasising the need for improvement in water management practices, he said `our water management practices need considerable improvement. We must complete ongoing irrigation projects first before undertaking new ones`, he said.
`Our culture has always placed emphasis on the concept of living in harmony with nature`, he said, adding, `unfortunately, this beautiful relationship between man and nature is weakening as societies are developing and population is growing`.
The local government and municipalities along with civil society should be given greater powers in the management of water resources, he said.
Sankaranarayanan said huge population had put our natural resources under tremendous strain. The first major challenge that we may have to address was ensuring food security for the growing population and the second major challenge is energy security, he said.
He said that he was impressed with the water conservation work being done by the villagers of social activist Anna Hazare in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
Enphasising the need to go in for renewable sources of energy, he said `demand for energy is growing and we have to go for renewable sources of energy to ease the burden on natural resources`.
Climate change is predicted to impact India`s natural resources base, including water resources, forestry and agriculture, he said.
About 350 delegates including some from abroad are attending the three-day conference.
PTI
