National workshop on Mission Amrit Sarovar held at PUSA Campus in Delhi

The Union Ministry of Rural Development organised a national workshop on Mission Amrit Sarovar at PUSA Campus in New Delhi.

The event, which was held on September 11, brought together all key officials from the states and the Union Territories and discussed the modalities to enhance technical capacity and foster collaborative innovation for the mission’s second phase.

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Mission Amrit Sarovar, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022 to create 50,000 ponds across the nation by August 15, 2023, has now entered its second phase, which focuses on Jan Bhagidari and technical innovations to strengthen the grassroots systems for implementing the mission on the ground and conducting outcome-based monitoring of ponds.

The workshop’s agenda centered on reinforcing the mission’s technical foundations and transforming Amrit Sarovars into sustainable, community-driven hubs, the Ministry of Rural Development said on Saturday.

Discussions and sessions focused on moving beyond initial targets, which were already surpassed with over 68,000 ponds created.

The main highlight of the event was the in-depth technical training on volumetric measurement, a crucial metric for assessing the mission’s impact.

As a part of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Rural Development and IIT Delhi, experts from IIT Delhi presented a new framework designed to ensure consistent and accurate assessments of the volume of Amrit Sarovars using techniques like SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System), flagstaffs, Photogrammetry, and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), simplifying the measurement of irregularly shaped natural ponds.

This session, followed by a hands-on training exercise at PUSA Amrit Sarovar Pond, IARI Complex, New Delhi, equipped officials with the practical skills needed for effective implementation of the mission on the ground.