Beltangady: Sacred Heart Church Jalasavardhana Committee, Madanthyar in association with Agricultural Department, Belthangady taluk and Lions Club Belthangady, conducted ‘Jalanayana’, a programme to educate the people on the importance of water conservation and protecting nature and its resources on recently.

The programme, conducted at Sacred Heart Church Hall Madanthyar, was the first programme conducted by the church as part of its 125th year Jubilee celebration.

‘Jalanayana’ was inaugurated by Dr H Kempegowda, joint director, Agricultural Department, Dakshina Kannada district and presided over by Fr Basil Vaz the parish priest of Madanthyar church.

Fr Basil gave a strong message urging everyone to love nature, animals and work towards building a better environment, He also said that Hiroshima bombing had killed 80,000 people years ago, but this program may save lives of 80,000 people.

Dr Kempegowda, addressing the gathering, spoke about environmental awareness and the several plans which the government has to help the society.

Prof Joseph N M, Sacred Heart College, Madanthyar, gave information about rain water harvesting and its advantages and other details.

A brochure was released by Gopal Krishna, president of gram panchayat, Paranki, which has information on the objectives and plans of this programme. Mark Shera and Reenu Pais, directors of ‘Manadaalu’ Krishi Kendra Mangaluru, spoke about rain water harvesting, water filtering and water scarcity, making recharge pit, vented dam, borewell recharge and ground water recharge techniques in detail. A question and answer session followed the programme.

Secretary Leo Rodrigues delivered the vote of thanks.

Assistant parish priest Fr Alwin D’Souza, vice-president Ronald Sequeira, president of Jalasavardhana Committee Vivek Vincent Pais, president of Lions Club Belthangady Dharanendra Jain, agricultural officer Narayana Poojary, Jayantha Shetty and Aravind Jain were also present.