Rs 544 crore irrigation plan proposed for Una

Our Correspondent

Una, December 1

The District Irrigation Plan, estimated at Rs 544.2 crore, has been formulated by the district administration under the Prime Minister’s Agriculture Irrigation Scheme for the complete irrigation coverage of cultivated land in the district. The elaborate plan, prepared by NABARD Consultancy Services, has been forwarded to the state government for inclusion in the state Irrigation Plan.

As per the plan, the Centre will bear 90 per cent of the project cost, while the remaining will be met by the state government from the financial year 2016-17 to 2019-20.

As per the District Irrigation Plan, the Irrigation and Public Health Department will construct 33 new irrigation schemes, besides repairing another 11 schemes at a cost of Rs 456.5 crore. Besides, the Agriculture Department will spend Rs 49.9 crore, the Rural Development Department Rs 26 crore, the Forest Department Rs 7 crore and the Horticulture Department will spend Rs 4.17 crore under various irrigation projects in the district.

As per the report, the situation of the groundwater aquifer in Una district is overstressed due to increased withdrawal. Further, while the annual current withdrawal of groundwater was 22.21 million cubic metres, the demand was 58.2 million cubic metres. The proposed irrigation plan, therefore, includes construction of 700 water harvesting structures to increase the percolation of rainwater into the ground aquifer, besides projects to increase the irrigation potential of the existing agriculture land.

Under the proposal, efforts to conserve water by adopting drip or sprinkler irrigation systems have been recommended. After the completion of the project, a total of 33,940 hectares of agriculture land is likely to be brought under irrigation.