Plan afoot to treat saline, alkaline soils

Parveen Arora

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Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 4

The problem of saline and alkaline soils in Haryana may become a thing of the past. The state government has formed a plan under which the Haryana Land Reclamation and Development Corporation Ltd (HLRDC) and the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, will collaborate to increase the soil fertility.

The HLRDC is the nodal agency of the project, while the CSSRI will provide technical and research-related assistance. The state government will allocate funds for the project to HLRDC.

Initially, saline and alkaline soils will be treated in three districts of Karnal, Rohtak and Jhajjar. Both the HLRDC and CSSRI will take one block of each district.

“Both the saline and alkaline soils have different nature. As many as 3.15 lakh hectares is affected with salinity and alkalinity (sodic). Of this, 1.45 lakh hectares are affected by salinity with predominant prevalence of salts such as chlorides and sulphates of sodium, potassium and magnesium, while 1.7 lakh hectares are alkaline with carbonates and bicarbonates of sodium,” said PC Sharma, Director, CSSRI.

In Jhajjar, 33,784 hectares are affected with salinity, while the soil in 7,762 hectares is alkaline in nature.

He maintains that the largest area under saline soils is found in Gujarat, followed by West Bengal. Similarly, the largest area under sodic soils is found in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu.

The HLRDC would submit a detailed project to the government soon and the work would begin after approval, said Jagdeep Brar, MD, HLRDC.