Punjab restores over 13,741 water courses to facilitate farmers with irrigation
Chandigarh
For the first time in decades, farmers in the cotton belt of Punjab are getting canal water for irrigating their fields, courtesy of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led government.
Informing about this, Punjab Water Resources Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said 13,741 water courses, out of the total 15741, have been restored after decades.
These water courses were earlier closed due to the non-availability of canal water for irrigation in the last two and half months.
“Now only 2,270 water courses, of the total 47,000, are left to be restored,” he said, adding work on a war footing is on to restore these too.
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Meet Hayer said that to facilitate the restoration of closed water channels, the government has given these the government water courses status instead of community status.
A total of Rs 200 crore has been spent on the restoration of these water channels through MNREGA and in addition, unutilized funds were also used for the purpose.
“More than 20 percent of the canals in Punjab are running beyond their capacity due to which sufficient water is also reaching the tails,” he added.
He further stated that the government has also taken the initiative to resolve revenue cases involving canal disputes and 5,016 disputes have been resolved in the last year.
Only 1,563 such cases are now pending, he said, adding the department is also working on flood protection and drainage cleaning works.
