Drive to desilt Kangra dams, canals kicks off
Dharamsala, June 5
The district administration of Kangra has started a campaign to clean all check dams and kuhls (traditional irrigation canals) in the district before the monsoon. There are about 1,200 check dams and kuhls in Kangra district.
Water storage capacity drops
People in rural areas have been complaining that the water storage capacity in check dams has dropped. Desilting these can help store some water in the forthcoming monsoon season. Nipun Jindal, kangra dc
Deputy Commissioner Nipun Jindal said the workers under the MGNREGA scheme were being used for the campaign to desilt all kuhls and check dams in the district. All Block Development Officers (BDOs) had been directed to get at least two check dams or kuhls cleaned in their respective districts every week using MGNREGA labourers.
Most of the check dams have been constructed in forest or rural areas of Kangra district under forestry or rural development projects. These check dams serve the basic purpose of soil conservation and create water bodies on small rivulets flowing through the district.
As per the parent departments that created these check dams, most of them have outlived their life and served their purpose of soil conservation. The departments that created them have no funds for desiltation as the projects under which these were created have already ended.
The Deputy Commissioner said people in rural areas had been complaining that the check dams had lost their water storage capacity. If they were desilted, they can help store some water in the forthcoming monsoon season. Hence, the district administration has decided to use MGNREGA workers to desilt the check dams so that these can serve the purpose of water retention in the monsoon, he added.
The farmers in many areas of the district had also been complaining about silting up of the kuhls in their areas, he added. Now the Rural Development Department has given farmers nod to get these kuhls cleaned while working under MGNREGA in their respective areas.
