A two-day national symposium was held to mark World Water Day. As part of the event, participants visited Gottigaripally village on Sunday for a field visit.
The symposium was jointly organised by Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University (PJTAU) and the Dr Marri Channa Reddy Memorial Trust. It took place at the Extension Education Institute (EEI) in Rajendra Nagar. The event focused on the theme of watershed projects in the Peninsular Deccan States, Gujarat, and Odisha.
Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Secretary of the Dr M Channa Reddy Memorial Trust and former Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), inaugurated the event and delivered the keynote speech. He spoke about the importance of watershed management for future water security. He also discussed the success of the “four water” concept developed by engineer T Hanumantha Rao, which has helped improve groundwater levels in Gottigaripally village. Thanks to this concept, farmers in the village can now grow three crops using available water. Under the watershed development programme, Rs 5,000 per acre is provided to build water harvesting structures, which help recharge groundwater and improve soil moisture.
Reddy encouraged the audience to use water resources wisely. Other speakers at the event included environmentalist Professor Purushotham Reddy, Dr M Balaram (Director of Research at PJTAU), and Dr KV Ramana Rao (Dean of Agricultural Engineering).
Dr KP Vani, Director of the Centre for Natural Resources and Environment (C-NRAE), also attended, along with government officials from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Representatives from NABARD, CRIDA, NRSC, NIRD, NGOs, and local farmers from Gottigaripally were also present.
During the event, a publication titled Run for Water was released by Shashidhar Reddy.
