Bhubaneswar: The Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI) is set to strengthen its role as a modern Centre of Excellence in water resources management with the signing of three Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with leading national institutions and an Odisha government undertaking.
The agreements were signed with the National Water Academy (NWA), Pune, ICAR–Indian Institute of Water Management (ICAR-IIWM), Bhubaneswar, and Odisha Construction Corporation Limited (OCCL). The programme was held at the Conference Hall of the Water Resources Department and was chaired by Principal Secretary Shubha Sharma.
The collaborations are aimed at improving technical capacity, promoting research and innovation, facilitating knowledge exchange and introducing modern technologies for more efficient and sustainable management of water resources in the state.
Under the MoU with NWA, Pune, WALMI will undertake joint and customised training programmes, knowledge-sharing initiatives and exposure visits focused on contemporary practices in water resources management. The partnership will provide WALMI access to NWA’s expertise, specialised training resources and national-level best practices.
The agreement with ICAR-IIWM will strengthen the connection between research and field-level applications in agricultural water management. Areas of collaboration will include water-use efficiency, climate-resilient irrigation, precision irrigation and technology-enabled water management, with particular focus on IoT, sensor-based systems and digital solutions.
A separate MoU with OCCL will support the physical and academic infrastructure development of WALMI. The proposed works include modernisation of training facilities, academic infrastructure, hostels, auditorium, conference hall and library, besides audio-visual-enabled classrooms and campus-wide Wi-Fi connectivity.
A new 100-seater hostel is also proposed as part of the infrastructure upgrade, aimed at improving the institute’s capacity to conduct training programmes and accommodate participants.
The three partnerships are expected to help WALMI expand its training, research and knowledge-sharing activities while enabling the adoption of technology-driven approaches in water and land management.
Senior officials of the Water Resources Department, including Engineer-in-Chief Dillip Kumar Rout, Engineer-in-Chief (S&M) Bighnaraj Purohit, Engineer-in-Chief (Procurement) Niranjan Rout, Engineer-in-Chief (IV) Purnachandra Rath, Engineer-in-Chief (Inter States) Abinash Roul, WALMI Director Bajinath Hembram and Additional Secretary Subrat Nayak, attended the programme.
Representatives of the collaborating institutions included NWA Chief Engineer and Head Vaseem Ashraf, NWA Director Chaitanya K.S., ICAR-IIWM Director Dr Arjamadutta Sarangi, Principal Scientist Dr Kalikinkar Bandyopadhyay and OCCL General Manager Er Sarat Chandra Ghadei.
