Bhubaneswar: Odisha was conferred with the 5th National Water Award as the state secured first rank in the best state category among all states and UTs for its exemplary work in the field of water conservation and management.
On behalf of the state, Development Commissioner Anu Garg received this award from President Droupadi Murmu in a programme held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi Tuesday.
According to a press statement issued by the ministry, the state, the first winner in the state category, has made exemplary strides in water conservation by creating about 53,000 water conservation and rainwater harvesting structures, 10,800 reuse and recharge structures.
The state has completed 68,700 watershed development and 21,000 wastewater treatment plants and renovated 11,000 traditional water bodies.
To encourage states and people to adopt the best water usage practices, the 1st National Water Award was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2018, while the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th National Water Awards were given for the years 2019, 2020 and 2022.
The awards were not given in the year 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
For the year 2023, the 5th National Water Awards was launched on October 13, 2023, on the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and a total of 686 applications were received.
The applications were scrutinised and evaluated by a jury committee.
Based on the ground truthing reports, a total of 38 winners, including joint winners, covering nine different categories have been selected for the 5th NWA, 2023.
PTI