Dwarka: A community water activist from Sector 23 Dwarka, Diwan Singh was honoured with ‘Jal Prahri' Samman 2022 on March 30, 2022, by the Jal Shakti Ministry, Government of India.
In a Facebook post, he said, "It is with great pleasure to share with you all yesterday 30th March I was awarded the Water Ploce 2022 Award by Ministry of Water Power- Government of India. Working on environmental issues for 17 years, forgot that you get awards too."
Diwan Singh started his journey in water and environment activism in 2004 when he was a part of Ridge Bachao Andolan to save 690 acres of pristine Ridge forest near Vasant Vihar- Mahipalpur which was an important water recharge area.
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After that in 2007, Diwan was instrumental in the campaign to save Yamuna Floodplains from construction activities. “We succeeded in convincing Shri Tejinder Khanna, the then Lieutenant Governor in protecting the floodplains for water recharge and preserving biodiversity. Floodplains are the best natural storage of surplus monsoon water,” said he.
In 2012 Diwan and his team took up the campaign to revive water bodies in Sector 23 Dwarka, Delhi. With the collective efforts from the community and administration, this is now one of the best revived freshwater bodies in Delhi.
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