Brainstorming Workshop on Sustainable wastewater treatment in rural ponds & its usage in agriculture

TIET – TAU Centre of Excellence for Food Security organised a Brainstorming Workshop on “Sustainable wastewater treatment in rural ponds & its usage in agriculture" at TIET, Patiala on Tuesday. Dr. Gurbinder Singh, Registrar, TIET welcomed the delegates and highlighted the need to conduct such workshops to benefit the community. Small Wastewater Treatment Plant

Amit Kumar, IAS, Joint Development Commissioner cum Commissioner MGNREGA, Department of Rural Development & Panchayats, was the chief guest in the workshop and other government. dignitaries from various stakeholder departments. The Hon’ble commissioner appreciated the efforts of Thapar Institute in the outreach and inclusive research being carried out to facilitate the progress of Rural Punjab.

He appreciated the work being carried out for the rejuvenation of village ponds and stressed the need to adopt such initiatives for environmental conservation and farmers’ welfare. Shri Amit Kumar also assured whole-hearted support for the efforts put forth by the Institute. The Brainstorming workshop was exclusively organized to highlight the research carried out by Project teams from PAU, TAU and TIET, headed by Prof. Amit Dhir in effectively treating the wastewater in rural ponds based on “Thapar Model” and usage of treated wastewater in irrigating edible crops in farms. This will reduce the excessive dependency on groundwater as the primary source of irrigation as well as solve the issues related to untreated domestic wastewater.

Paper Making Machine Gulshan Rai, Chief Environmental Engineer, Punjab Pollution Control Board congratulated Thapar Institute for its initiative to collaborate and resolve environmental issues in State of Punjab, Prof. Padmakumar Nair, Director of TIET, welcomed the chief guest along with other dignitaries and briefed about the TIET initiatives in establishing Center of Excellence in various research domains. Prof. Yosi, who is also the Director of CoE (FS) from Tel Aviv University, Israel attended the meeting in virtual mode and briefed the audience about the vision of Center for ensuring food security. Prof. Amit Dhir welcomed the dignitaries and enlightened the audience about the ongoing project regarding the proposed pilot scale studies in rural ponds. Prof. Sukhpal Singh, Chairman Punjab State Farmers and Farm Workers Commission highlighted the need to adopt innovative agricultural practices to enhance farmers income. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by Prof. Mousumi Ghosh, Coordinator of the center.