Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government, which has pioneered rain water harvesting (RWH) with remarkable coverage rate of 90 per cent in Chennai, is now acting as an inspirational force for other states to take up similar initiatives.
The Delhi government has roped in TN rain man Dr Sekar Raghavan as an adviser to formulate RWH policy on lines with legislation on rainwater harvesting in Tamil Nadu.
Raghavan, 68, visited Delhi twice on invitation and gave a detailed presentation to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the secretariat earlier this month. Raghavan, who is associated with TN government in promoting RWH since 2001, told Deccan Chronicle that the Delhi CM has appreciated TN government’s determination and individual efforts of people of Chennai in making RWH a success.
“Kejriwal government has set up Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) to identify best practices and policies within India and around the world and translate them into concrete recommendations to the Government of NCT of Delhi for transformative change,” he said.
As a part of the initiative, DDC vice-chairman Ashish Khetan visited Chennai in July and met Raghavan at the Rain Centre and took inputs on how RWH system is working in Tamil Nadu. “On October 13, I was called for a one-day workshop on rainwater harvesting for Delhi. It was attended by Delhi CM, chief secretary and 40 senior bureaucrats,” he said.
Raghavan would be going to Delhi again for a two-week stay after Deepavali to set up a Rain Centre and finalise the design for 10-15 pilot projects in Delhi. Not just Delhi, even Rajasthan government is taking a clue from Tamil Nadu.
Recently, Kiran Maheshwari, Minister for Public Health Engineering and Ground Water in Rajasthan, visited Rain Centre in Chennai and held talks with Raghavan.
He visited Jaipur earlier this month along with A.L. Radhakrishnan, retired chief engineer of Chennai Metro Water Board, to share knowledge about TN’s RWH. “Though Rajasthan was once a leader in RWH, their traditional system has failed to deliver results following rapid urbanisation. The state is now searching for new ways to revive rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge systems, especially in Jaipur,” Raghavan said.
