Bureau
Chandigarh: Moving towards water conservation, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today announced that the area under direct seeding of paddy has been increased by 275 percent from 73,000 acres to nearly 2 lakh acres. “This will save 218 MCM of water. For this, provision will be made for availability of machinery and subsidy,” he added.
Apart from this, the Chief Minister also announced that more than 9500 water sources would be renovated in the next two years; which include 5308 ponds, 63 check dams, 81 shallow tubewells and 4000 recharge borewells.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the concluding session of the two-day ‘Water Conclave’ organized by the Haryana Water Resources Authority under Amrit Jal Kranti at Panchkula today.
He said that the area under natural farming will be increased by more than 300 percent, i.e., from 6,000 acres to 25,000 acres. This effort will not only save water but also improve soil health, said Sh. Manohar Lal.
Target of 1 lakh acres of land been set for land reclamation
The Chief Minister said that the state government has set a target of reclamation of 1 lakh acres of saline land in brackish water areas. “To expedite the work and to achieve this target, the Agriculture Department will work closely with the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute and finalize its action plan in the next three months. Machines will also be made available for this work and if provision of subsidy has to be made, that too will be done,” he asserted.
Budget of Rs 700 crore will be available from World Bank for Atal Bhujal Yojana
Sh. Manohar Lal said that the World Bank has given in-principle approval for expansion of Atal Bhujal Yojana to 14 districts of the state. In the first phase, a budget of 700 crores was received under the five-year plan. In the second phase also, a budget of about Rs 700 crore will be made available by the World Bank. This will cover 90 percent of the waterlogged area of the state, he added.
50 percent demand of water in agriculture sector will be met by treated waste water of STP
The Chief Minister said that in the next two years, 50 percent of the demand of water in the agriculture sector would be met by the treated waste water of STPs. In addition, water of 75 STPs will be used for agricultural needs; besides 100 percent of the treated waste water will be reused in 18 out of 31 HSIIDC estates in the next two years,” he said.
Plan to implement ZLD at IMT Sohna, Kharkhoda and Global City Gurugram
The Chief Minister said that there is a major use of water in the industry sector also, and the state government has made a special plan under which Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) will be implemented in IMT Sohna, IMT Kharkhoda and Global City Gurugram. He said that the area under fisheries will also be increased. Presently fish farming is being done in 2500 acres, which has been targeted to be increased.
Project to be prepared for reuse of treated waste water in power plants
Sh. Manohar Lal said that the Energy Department would prepare DPRs of projects for reuse of treated waste water in Yamunanagar, Panipat, Hisar and Jhajjar power plants in the next three months. Possibilities of using treated waste water for cooling power plants will also be explored, subject to economic viability, he added.
Installation of micro STPs, twin pipelines will be ensured in colonies and HSVP sectors
The Chief Minister said that more than 250 urban ponds would be renovated in the next two years under various schemes. “Installation of micro STPs and twin pipelines will be ensured in all licensed colonies and HSVP sectors. Treated waste water will be used in parks and green areas of all urban areas,” he added.
“As a result of the deliberations held during the two-day ‘Water Conclave’, a way has been paved for preparing a roadmap for the future management of water in this region and Haryana will definitely establish new dimensions in the direction of water conservation,” he said.
On the occasion, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. DS Dhesi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V. Umashankar, Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Smt. Keshni Anand Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Sh. Anurag Rastogi, Advisor to Chief Minister (Irrigation), Sh. Devender Singh, administrative secretaries of various departments and experts having long experience in the field of water conservation were present.