This report by the Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, provides information on Neeru Meeru, a water conservation and poverty alleviation inititaive undertaken by the governemnt of Andhra Pradesh. With the experience of few years and based on recommendations of various experts, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to launch a focused onslaught on the man made phenomenon of drought and water shortage in the state.
Thus, focus was laid on sustainable developmental effort with emphasis on holistic planning on river basin/sub-basin through convergence of various departments at the state, district and sub-district levels. For ensuring convergence of the efforts of the concerned departments and to promote water conservation in an aggressive manner, the government brought all water conservation activities into a campaign mode and christened the same as Neeru-Meeru meaning Water and You.
The government launched Neeru-Meeru or the 1st of May, 2000 coinciding with 12th round of Janmabhoomi. The concept of Neeru-Meeru envisages creation of awareness amongst the people to ensure their participation and to facilitate conservation efforts of various government departments. The departments involved in Neeru-Meeru programme are:
Salient features of Neeru-Meeru are:
Awareness building and people's participation
Quantitative progress of the works
Impact of Neeru Meeru
The Ground Water department has been conducting impact analysis studies of works taken up under Neeru-Meeru on the status of ground water levels and found that:
The impact analysis at micro level indicated quick response to rainfall in the form of buildup in water levels wherever considerable volume of work was taken up under Neeru-Meeru.