Groundwater depletion alarming in Moga

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, June 10

Until a few years ago, Rajinder Singh made a living by growing maize, wheat, paddy and vegetables on his 7-acre land at Takhtupura village in Nihalsinghwala sub-division of the district.

But, for the past few years, he is struggling to make both ends meet even as he has increased his landholding to 12 acres. The groundwater level has gone down drastically. He has reinstalled two submersible pumps at a depth of more than 400 ft and 650 ft in the past one decade. It has put an extra financial burden on him.

He says, “A decade ago, we use to drink water from hand-pumps which were installed just 20 ft to 30 ft, but, these days the hand-pumps have almost disappeared.”

The input cost of farming has increased manifold over the past few years. During the peak paddy season, farmers use diesel generator sets or tractor operated pulleys to pump out water, which also adds to the cost.

He now plans to cultivate half of his land and leave the rest for livestock hoping on his two sons to get a helping hand for trying his luck in dairying business.

Takhtupura is among 40 villages of Nihalsinghwala, which have been declared as “dark zones” by the central groundwater board. The average fall of groundwater table in the region is between 75 cm to 85 cm each year.

The residents of Takhtupura village revealed than more than 50 farmers deepened their tube wells in the past 5 years. “It is a considerable financial burden for the farmers, which has also added to our debt,” says Balwinder Singh another farmer of the village.

Damanveer Singh Toor, executive engineer, PSPCL, says there are a total of more than 74,000 tubewell connections in the district. At least, 3,000 new connections were issued in the district in 2016 prior to the state Assembly elections.

Agriculture scientist Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar says if the farmers go on exploiting the groundwater recklessly, the day is not far when the entire land falling under the “dark zone” turns barren.