Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje has said that ‘Mukhyamantri Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan’ is a flagship programme of the state government. For this campaign to become a success, support of different sections of society including officials, public representatives, social or religious organisations and corporates, was required along with that of general public, she said.

Smt. Raje was talking in a media interaction at hotel Shakun on Saturday. She said that the Ministers and officials of the state government had started working for the campaign and various religious and social organizations were also calling in to become partners. She appealed the media organizations to support this campaign by creating awareness amongst the public about it. She appreciated efforts made by some media organizations for launching water conservation campaigns in the past. She called upon the organizations to adopt villages or water bodies in the urban areas for this project.

The CM said that Rajasthan was the most water scarce state of the country and a campaign for water conservation was an important step in the direction of resolving this crisis. She said that if everybody joined hands for this, in the days to come whole scenario could change. She said that for a change to happen all had to stand-up together. “This being reason, I have invited all political parties and organizations for participating in the water campaign,” she said.

Smt. Raje said that in the first phase of Jal Swavalamban campaign, from January 27 onwards, camps would be organized at 3,563 villages across the state for developing watershed structures. Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly and other public representatives of different political parties had been invited to partake in these camps at local level. She said that everybody and anybody could contribute in the campaign through various means and resources. She said that special bank account and crowd funding collection system had been developed for collections of funds from the donors for the Abhiyan.

During the media interaction, Director Watershed Development Shri Anurag Bhardwaj gave a presentation on Mukhyamantri Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan. Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Shri Arun Chaturvedi, Transport Minister Shri Yunus Khan, Chairperson of Rajasthan River Basin Authority Shri Shriram Vedire, senior officers of different departments, editors and bureau chiefs of media organizations were present on this occasion.

Jaipur, 23 January 2016