By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: The Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday confer the 4th National Water Awards at an award distribution ceremony being organised at Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi by the Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD &GR), Ministry of Jal Shakti.
The 1st Prize for the Best State was conferred on Madhya Pradesh; Best District was conferred on Ganjam District, Odisha. Odisha’s Development Commissioner Anu Garg received the award on behalf of Odisha from Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Food Processing Industries, Shri Bishweswar Tudu, Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs, Shri Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, and other senior officers from the Ministry of Jal Shakti were also present on the occasion.
41 winners, including joint winners, covering 11 categories were conferred with awards. Best Village Panchayat conferred on Jagannadhapuram Village Panchayat, Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Telangana; Best Urban Local Body conferred on Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh; Best Media conferred on Advance Water Digest Private Limited Gurugram, Haryana; Best School conferred on Jamiyatpura Primary School, Mehsana, Gujarat; Best Institution for Campus usage conferred on Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Reasi, Jammu and Kashmir; Best Industry conferred on Barauni Thermal Power Station, Begusarai, Bihar; Best NGO on Arpan Seva Sansthan, Udaipur, Rajasthan; Best Water User Association conferred on the Sanjeevani Piyat Sahkari Mandli Ltd, Narmada, Gujarat; and Best Industry for CSR Activities conferred on HCL Technologies Ltd., Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
In the year 2022, 4th National Water Awards were launched on 30th July, 2022 on Rashtriya Puraskar Portal of Ministry of Home Affairs. A total of 868 applications were received by the last date on 31st October 2022. The applications were scrutinized and evaluated. The ground truthing of the shortlisted applications was carried out by the Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board after which 41 winners, including joint winners covering all 11 categories have been selected for awards.
