Haryana  Chief  Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday launched the biennial Integrated Water Resources Action Plan (2023-25) which aims to meet the twin challenges of water depletion and waterlogging. 

"I am confident that the action plan will serve as a roadmap to achieve the targets of water saving and water management in the state," said Khattar at the launch ceremony. He said the total water availability of the state is 20,93,598 crore litres whereas the total water demand is 34,96,276 crore litres making a water gap of 14 lakh crore litres.

"All water related Departments have come forward and taken the ownership to conserve water through various demand and supply side interventions, which would save around 6.97 lakh crore litres (49.7 percent) of water in next two years," said Khattar.

The Chief Minister said that the maximum amount of water is used in agriculture and horticulture sector, which are 86 percent and 5 percent respectively. Continuous efforts are needed to reduce water consumption by adopting water conservation methods, he added.

He informed  that the Agriculture Department has included various measures in the action plan. According to this, 3.14 lakh acres of area will be covered under crop diversification, which will save 1.05 lakh crore litres (7.6 percent) of water. Direct seeding of paddy will be done in 4.75 lakh acres and will save 1.18 lakh crore liters (8.4 per cent).  27.53 lakh acres  will be brought under conservation tillage to save  0.51 lakh crore liters (3.7 per cent).  

Further 0.47 lakh crore liters (3.4 percent)  will be saved by using high varieties in 3.49 lakh acres, 0.35 lakh crore liters (2.5 percent) of water will be saved  by using green manure in 9.73 lakh acres, 0.27 lakh crore  litres will be saved by covering 0.43 lakh acres under natural farming  A target has been set to save litres (1.9 percent) of water.

Similarly, Irrigation Department (including MICADA), Public Health Engineering Department, Panchayats Department (including Ponds Authority and Rural Development) and others (PWD, ULB, Forest, Education (Higher, Technical and Secondary)  have also given measures for water resources.

The Chief Minister said that 'Reduce, Recycle and Reuse' should be our focus as we move towards water management and conservation.  "We are taking new innovatives like Mera Pani Meri  Virasat for crop diversification.  I thank the farmers of my state who have adopted this scheme on 1.5 lakh acres of land.  Farmers are also moving towards the Direct Seeded Rice method," said Khattar.

He said that as present, 250 cusec water is being given to Delhi as per the Supreme Court orders. In the coming times, the water need is certainly going to increase, hence dedicated efforts are being made to ensure that proper management of water with optimum use, recycle and reuse is done.

SYL is a pivotal issue for Haryana and Punjab

The Chief Minister  said that SYL is a pivotal issue for Haryana and Punjab.  "We are hopeful that this issue will soon be resolved. Construction of SYL is not in our hands," he added. He said that three dams, Renuka, Lakwar and Kishau dam are being built so as to ensure regulation of water. With the construction  of these dams, the water needs of the state would certainly be addressed.

"Plans are also being made to explore the utilisation of small sources of water. Dams will be constructed and plans will be formulated to ensure how this water can be utilised for local use. Work is being done on 9 dams, the work on Adi badri dam is completed," he added.