Khattar favours having centralized water monitoring system in Haryana

Farmers should therefore give priority to micro-irrigation in areas where the groundwater has gone down, he said.Irrigation and Water Resources Departments Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh said the problem arising out of the groundwater exploitation has taken a formidable form in 14 out of 22 districts of Haryana, besides the waterlogging and water salinity in seven districts.He said in the year 2004, out of 114 blocks in the state, 55 blocks had come under the red category, which was about 48 per cent due to groundwater exploitation.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday mooted the idea of having a centralized water monitoring system in Haryana.

The system would help in making available the groundwater, river water and treated water to farmers smoothly at the district, block and village levels.

While presiding over the first meeting of the Haryana Water Resources Authority on Sunday, he also directed officials to formulate an action plan to set up the system within two years.

He said to raise the depleting groundwater level in the state, there is a need for a customized plan for water recharge and utilization so that people can get adequate water supply for agriculture and domestic use. The plan should be extended to the village level with the participation of people and public representatives so that future generations do not face the water shortage, the chief minister quoted as saying in an official statement.

He directed officials to formulate plans based on different areas of the state and prepare a water availability index for each village so that the people can get information regarding the availability of water in future.

Expressing concern over the depleting water level in the state, Khattar said it has gone down to 80 feet in some districts including Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Panipat in the last five decades.

He pointed out that despite the depleting groundwater level, farmers' dependence on it and its exploitation by them is consistently increasing.

He said scientific methods have to be adopted for rational use of water and supply of water to the areas with water scarcity.

The chief minister alleged that the previous governments did nothing to increase the availability of water for agricultural use and this led to a larger dependence of people on groundwater.

''This has badly affected the financial condition of farmers and the agricultural economy due to the expenditure on the installation of tube wells. Farmers should therefore give priority to micro-irrigation in areas where the groundwater has gone down,'' he said.

Irrigation and Water Resources Department's Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh said the problem arising out of the groundwater exploitation has taken a formidable form in 14 out of 22 districts of Haryana, besides the waterlogging and water salinity in seven districts.

He said in the year 2004, out of 114 blocks in the state, 55 blocks had come under the 'red' category, which was about 48 per cent due to groundwater exploitation. ''But in 2020, out of 141 blocks, 85 blocks have reached the red category, which is 60 per cent. Therefore, farmers should reduce their dependence on groundwater and give priority to crop diversity,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)