Assam: There is no provision under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 to declare a site as a “Water Heritage Site” under Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). However, the Ministry of Jal Shakti had constituted a Committee to identify 75 Water Heritage Structure (WHS) in reference to 75 years of India’s Independence.
A total of 421 nominations were received through States/UTs, Central Agencies, NGOs and general public and out of which Committee has recommended 75 water heritage structures, which includes 5 Water Heritage Structure from Gujarat and 4 Water Heritage Structure from Andhra Pradesh respectively. In this connection, “Jal-Itihas” sub-portal under India-WRIS portal, showcasing the 75 WHS, was launched (https://indiawris.gov.in/wris/) on 5th January, 2023 at the 1st All India State Ministers Conference on Water at Bhopal. State/UT wise details of these WHS are at Annexure. At present there is no central fund allocated/disbursed for maintenance of these sites.
The meandering flow of our Assam’s waters carry with them our heritage & history.
A moment of great pride for Assam as 4 heritage water sites have been identified among the 75 Water Heritage Structures by the committee constituted by Ministry of Jal Shakti! pic.twitter.com/geBZuTxoKH
— Ashok Singhal (@TheAshokSinghal) March 13, 2023
The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, chaired the High-Level Committee (HLC), which approved additional Central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to five states affected by floods, landslides, and cloudbursts in 2022.
This demonstrates the Union Government’s determination, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to assist the people of the five affected states.
The HLC approved an additional Rs. 1,816.162 crores in NDRF assistance to five states. The division is as follows:
Rs 520.466 crore to Assam
Rs 239.31 crore to Himachal Pradesh
Rs 941.04 crore to Karnataka
Rs. 47.326 crore to Meghalaya
Rs. 68.02 crore to Nagaland
This additional assistance is in addition to the funds released by the Centre to the states in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), which are already available to the states. During the fiscal year 2022-23, the Central Government distributed Rs. 15,770.40 crore to 25 states through their SDRF and Rs. 502.744 crore to four states through the NDRF.
