HP seeks Rs 4,751 cr for rainwater harvesting projects
Shimla, May 25: Himachal Pradesh has sought central funding of Rs 4,751 crore for setting up rainwater harvesting structures, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Friday.
Presiding over the review meeting of the Irrigation and Public Health Department here, he said, being a hilly state, rainwater flows downstream unused and the government plans to check the water wastage by constructing water harvesting structures which could be utilized for irrigation and other purposes.
The state has also sent another proposal of Rs 798 crore for central funding for remodelling and enhancing 1,421 water supply schemes to ensure adequate supply to the people, Thakur said.
Emphasising the need for taking steps to check water leakage in the "drought-like condition in the state", he said that it is the department's duty to ensure that there is no scarcity of water.
The tourist season is on its peak across the state and efforts should be made to ensure there is no inconvenience to the people and the tourists, he said.
Officials told IANS that most of the tourist destinations in the state, including the state capital, are currently facing huge shortage of potable water.
In Shimla, localities are getting water once in a week.
The water shortage leaves tourism industry representatives worrying as Shimla gets 20,000-30,000 tourists on an average every weekend during the peak summer season (May-June).
Locals rue that Shimla is now synonymous with water scarcity -- both in summer and winter.
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Sharad Pawar praised RSS after seeing how it burst fake narrative balloon of LS polls: Fadnavis
Nagpur, Jan 10: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar praised the RSS after realising how the outfit managed to overcome the fake narrative spread by the opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition had claimed BJP wanted to win 400 seats to change the Constitution and end reservations, a narrative which BJP leaders later claimed hit the party hard.
On Pawar praising the RSS recently, the CM said the MVA was successful in creating a fake narrative during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"When assembly polls were approaching, many people from diverse fields who are inspired by the RSS played their role and burst the balloon of this fake narrative. Sharad Pawar saheb is very intelligent. He would have certainly studied this aspect. He realised that this (RSS) is not a regular political power but a nationalist power. In any competition it is good to praise others," he added.
That is why Pawar may have praised the RSS, Fadnavis said.
Speaking at an interaction with senior editor Vivek Ghalsasi at Late Vilasji Fadnis Jivhala programme here, Fadnavis also said he had asked for organisational work when Eknath Shinde was made chief minister in June 2022, but senior leaders asked him to join the government.
He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him not to behave like an extra-constitutional authority in the government.
He said the decision to become deputy chief minister on the command of the party leadership earned him a lot of praise from the cadre.
After the massive mandate the ruling alliance received in the 2024 assembly polls, Fadnavis said people and party workers would not have been happy if the CM was not from the BJP.
Shinde himself agreed within minutes that the CM must be from the BJP, which itself got 132 seats and was close to a majority of its own in the 288-member assembly, he added.
On Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray meeting him during the winter sessions of the legislature in Nagpur, Fadnavis said he had announced he would not indulge in politics of revenge after becoming CM and all leaders responded positively to it.
On chances of the NCP (SP) and NCP coming closer or reuniting, Fadnavis said, "If you see the developments that took place from 2019 to 2024, I realised never say never and anything can happen. Uddhav Thackeray goes to some other party and Ajit Pawar comes to us. In politics anything can happen though I am not saying this should happen."
He praised BJP leader Arun Gujarati from whom he learnt patience, which he claimed was an important quality in politics along with the ability to take criticism.
In a lighter vein, he said, "I only get angry when I am hungry. If you see me angry then give me something to eat and my anger will go away."
