Rs 5.6 crore watershed management project to come up at Bangana

UNA, JUNE 27

A four-day water conservation workshop ‘Catch the Rain’ was inaugurated by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar at Thanakalan village of Bangana here today. The workshop aims to spread awareness on rainwater conservation.

Speaking on the occasion, Kanwar said an integrated watershed management project has been sanctioned in Bangana subdivision and would be implemented in Thanakalan, Dobad, Deehar and Kharialta panchayats. A sum of Rs 5.63 crores will be spent under the project.

The minister said plantation of forest and fruit species would also be undertaken under the project to bind the soil and minimize erosion. He said ten self help groups from the four panchayats have come together in the form of an umbrella organisation ‘Pehchaan’ to provide social mobilisation at the grass root level to implement the project.

Kanwar said about 2,000 hectares of land will be benefited through various activities under the project, adding that modern agriculture techniques, mechanised machinery, hybrid seeds and good quality fertilizers will be provided to the farmers.

Kanwar distributed power tillers and food processing machinery to the representatives of women self help groups for undertaking collective income generation activities. He said under the project, water harvesting structures, to be named ‘Amrit Sarovar’ would be constructed in each of the four panchayats to store rainwater.