Over 13,400 water courses restored for irrigation of fields

Chandigarh, July 3

In a rather valiant attempt to stop further extraction of the depleting groundwater, the government has restored over 13,400 water courses (khals) to carry canal water in the fields for irrigation.

It was after decades that water from canals now reached the tail-ends of canals. The government had also increased the flow of water into the canals by 10,239 cusecs to ensure that more surface water was used for irrigation purposes, Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and Principal Secretary Krishan Kumar told mediapersons here today.

Earlier, the canals were carrying water up to 51 per cent of their total carrying capacity. After four decades, the water flow in canals Upper Bist Doab, Bist Doab and Bhakra Mainline has been increased by 20 per cent. “Most canals are carrying water over the freeboard limit. This is the reason that small breaches have been reported in some water channels because suddenly the water flow has been increased to facilitate farmers, whose fields are located at the tail-end of the canals,” said Hayer. Though the data for how much of groundwater extraction is stemmed will be available only towards the end of the ongoing paddy season, the minister said the present use of 21 per cent canal water and 79 per cent groundwater was expected to reverse because of this decision.

Meet Hayer further said out of 15,741 water courses closed due to the unavailability of canal water for the last several decades, 13,471 courses were restored by the Water Resources Department during the last two-and-a-half months. Now, of 47,000 water courses in Punjab, only 2,270 remain to be restored, regarding which the work was going on a war footing.

The minister said the department had restored the closed water courses at Rs 200 crore through MGNREGA funds.

Principal Secretary Krishan Kumar said the department had completed 318 flood prevention works at Rs 89.10 crore before the season started. Among them, 193 drain cleaning works were completed with Rs 39.53 crore expenditure and 75 flood prevention works were done with Rs 46.43 crore cost. Similarly, five machines were purchased by the department at Rs 3.15 crore which were being used for cleaning the drains. He said the department would now clean the drains throughout the year.

Water flow increased by 10,239 cusecs

The government has increased the flow of water into canals by 10,239 cusecs to ensure that more surface water is used for irrigation purposes. Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, water resources minister