``At least this will enable the Central Government to have a more active role in dealing with water resources which is a State subject,'' said Mahajan at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the National Water Academy at Khadakwasla on Sunday morning.

The multiplicity of authority management of water resources had taken a back seat, the minister felt. ``On one side we have floods and on the other we have droughts. That is the challenge for the 21st century for us,'' he said.

As far as the Academy was concerned Mahajan promised that it would be completed in time. ``I am a greedy man and I would like to inaugurate the building that I laid the foundation stone for,'' he said, taking an opportunity to make his pot pourri of political statements. ``Governments change pretty fast these days, but I am sure I will be in office till April 1, 2000. So I invite every body present for the inauguration slated for April 1.'' A promise that Mahajan ensured that he would keep. Scheduled to be completed by April 2001, the Academy will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 793.11 lakh. The mineral water bottles kept for the minister and the top brass of the Ministry of Water Resources and Central Water Commission came in for ridicule. ``These days we have to buy water at prices that would fetch us a similar quantity of petrol,'' said Mahajan. The Academy is an upgradation of the Central Training Unit of the Central Water Commission and will aim at training water resources engineers of State andCentral agencies in planning, design, evaluation, construction, operation and monitoring of water resource projects.