PUNE: The present groundwater situation in Maharashtra in critical, said senior geologist Shrinivas Vadagbalkar at the inauguration of the 14th Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival(KVIFF).

"In states like Gujarat, Assam, Kerala and Maharashtra, land is rocky and the water holding capacity is low. Only 1%-4% water gets through the rock bed to recharge groundwater. Even though high rainfall levels are recorded, rainwater harvesting systems are not sufficiently available," he said. The geologist, who was conferred the Vasundhara Green Teacher Award at the event, said the only solution was to store rain water. "Storage ponds are the need of the hour. Our ancestors had great knowledge on this front and we still see water reservoirs on fortresses or pilgrimage sites."

The three environmental activists from Ladakh- Shan-e-Shan- were conferred the Vasundhara Mitra Activists Award. Renowned environmental filmmaker Vijay Bedi was conferred the Vasundhara Mitra Filmmaker award. Bedi also delivered the Vasundhara talk on 'Camera as a Tool for Conservation'.

Delivering the welcome address at the event, Atul Kirloskar, executive chairman of Kirloskar group, said, "Greta Thunberg said the only way to get the message of saving the environment through is to incessantly repeat until it gets through to people and translates into action. In its 14th year, the KVIFF is working on the spread the message of environment protection."