Raphael Warjri

The Joint-Secretary, Ministry of D.O.N.E.R & Secretary, North Eastern
Council (NEC), Shri Angshuman Dey, who is also the Central Nodal Officer, Jal Shakti Abhiyan for East Khasi Hills
District today reviewed the implementation for Jal Shakti Abhiyan-Catch the Rain Program
of the Government of India at the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills
District.

The Ministry of Jal Shakti launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in the year 2019 in 1,592
blocks out of 2,836 blocks in 256 water stressed districts of the country. In 2021, “Jal Shakti
Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA: CTR) with the theme “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls When it
Falls” was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister subsuming Catch the Rain (CTR) campaign to
cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country.

The implementation of JSA-CTR also started in 2019. However, due to the COVID-19
pandemic, progress was slow. In the last one year, the various activities and interventions
took pace and East Khasi Hills District now has emerged as one of the leading Districts in the
State. The District has been able to map, constructed and geotagged about 3526 water
bodies and structures in the District. Various interventions like construction of water
conservation and rain water harvesting structures, renovation of traditional water bodies,
construction of recharge structures,. water shed development, spring shed development,
afforestation, community nurseries, seed banks, bench terracing, construction of irrigational
canals, etc have been undertaken by various Line Departments like Soil & Water
Conservation, BDOs, Water Resources, MBDA (CLLMP), PHE and Forests & Environment
Depts. District and Block level committees have also been constituted and these
Committees are in the process of preparing the Block and District Level Water Security Plans
for the District.
Shri Angshuman Dey, Joint-Secretary, Ministry of D.O.N.E.R & Secretary, North Eastern
Council (NEC) appreciated and commended the works done by the District. He further that
there are many other areas where the District and Block Teams can improve upon such as
involvement of women as part of the Nari Shakti to Jal Shakti Campaign, involvement and
confidence building of local communities, mapping the health of springs, afforestation
programmes, etc. He also encouraged the District to activate and innovate the Jal Shakti

Kendra to act as an information centre for the citizens to seek information and assistance in
the implementation of Jal Shakti Abhiyan.
During the meeting, Shri . S Warjri, MCS, ADC on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner
presented elaborately on the activities undertaken in the District through all the Water
related Line Departments. The meeting was attended by Shri. Dhrubajyoti Khanikar,
Scientist D, Central Ground Water Board as Technical Officer who reviewed the activities
and progress of work under Jal Shakti Abhiyan – Catch The Rain Campaign, East Khasi Hills,
PD DRDA, BDOs, Officers from various line departments and Block Offices. After the
meeting the Central Officials & Team also made a brief visit to the Jal Shakti Kendra, East
Khasi Hills, Shillong.