Himachal Pradesh will play host to the regional workshop on 6th Minor Irrigation Census and water bodies that will be organised in Shimla from 8 August.

Additional Chief Secretary (Public Works), Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Manisha Nanda, who is also Census Commissioner for Minor Irrigation said that the centrally sponsored Scheme Irrigation Census with 100 per cent Central funding under the Umbrella Scheme-Pradhan Mantari Krishi Sinchai Yojna and other schemes is being organised across all the 33 states and Union Territories.

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Under this scheme, six regional workshops will be organised across the country and in the north Himachal Pradesh will be hosting the workshop, she added.

Besides, HP, the workshop will witness participation of senior officers of northern states that include Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, she maintained.

“It is for the first time the census is being conducted for the creating a data on water bodies. The objective of Water Census is to create a central data base of water bodies. During the workshop detail training will be provided,” she said.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources the centrally sponsored has three broad sub-components that include conduct of 6th Minor Irrigation (MI) Census at a cost of Rs 168.14 crore during 2017- 18 to 2019-2020 which is inclusive of the remaining activities of 5th MI Census with reference to the year 2013 -14, this also includes Rs 27 crores for the continuation of state Statiscal Cells during 2017-18 to 2019-20, conduct of census of water bodies at a cost of Rs 89.64 crore during 2017-18 to 2019- 20, which also includes Rs 2 crores for strengthening of State Statiscal Cells on purely outsourced basis and continuation of Statistical Cells in the Nodal Departments of states/UTs during 2017-18 to 2019-20.

The Union Government will provide 100 percent central assistance to all the states and UTs for all the three components.

Each states and UT administration has already identified a Nodal Department for compilation of MI statistics and the head of the department will be the Census Commissioner in charge of the complete census work of the states and UTs.

The primary work of data collection will be carried out by village level workers, patwaris or any other official designated by the states and UTs.