Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Wednesday announced to constitute a Pond Management Authority for the protection, conservation, development and rejuvenation of around 14,000 ponds in the State.
The Chief Minister also announced that an unspent balance of `60 crore out of `100 crore budget of Haryana Swarna Jayanti Celebrations Authority would now be spent on initiatives to double the income of farmers and to conserve water.
He were speaking at a “National Seminar on Enhancing Efficacy of Usage of Water” jointly organized by Irrigation Department and Haryana Irrigation Research and Management Institute, Kurukhsetra on the occasion of 52nd Haryana Day here.
Rajendra Singh, Magsaysay Awardee and former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr SY Quraishi also addressed the seminar.
Manohar lal announced that 50 to 60 small lakes or water bodies would be developed in the areas adjoining Delhi for storage and recharging of water to meet the growing requirement of water in areas adjoining the national capital.
He said the Public Health and Engineering Department would tap the excess water flowing in the villages and put the same into the ponds. The digging work of ponds would be carried out every year, he added.
The water would be used for irrigation of 30 to 100 acres of agriculture land near the village ponds, said he.
While emphasizing the need of water conservation, the Chief Minister said that check dams would be constructed at eight to nine places in the Shivalik foothills for the conservation and storage of rainy water. A detailed study has been got conducted through the Webcos in this regard. Apart from this, 3-ponds and 5-ponds system has been implemented, he said.
Expressing concern over the increasing demand of water in the Delhi and adjoining areas, the Chief Minister said that Delhi has a population of about 2.5 crores and after adding the population of adjoining districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida, it reaches upto about four crores .
As Delhi is the capital of India, Haryana is also facing the burden of water shortage in the national capital. Keeping all this in view, it has been decided to develop 50 to 60 small lakes or water bodies in the areas adjoining Delhi so that the water stored could be utilized to meet the growing requirement of water in adjoining areas, said Manohar lal.
He further said that there is a need to ensure optimum utilization of water as its over exploitation might become a cause of the next world war. The whole world is concerned on this issue.
While referring to mining, he said that mining upto a minimum level should be allowed either manually or mechanised otherwise it could results into flood.
The State Government would work to revive the Water Conservation Mission implemented in the year 2001 in a phased manner, he added.
Earlier, in his key note address, Magsaysay Award winner, Rajendra Singh praised the Chief Minister saying that it was for the first time in last 32 years that water has reached to tail ends in the state.
He also appreciated the micro-irrigation project being implemented in Pehowa, district Kurukshetra and said that it is need of the hour to implement micro irrigation systems in view of the increasing demand of water in the state. As the forest area in the Arawali region had reduced lately, there was a need to recharge ground water in the region, said he.
Singh suggested to recharge the flood water of river Yamuna as through this, the agriculture in the Narnaul area could be further enhanced. He said that recharge of ground water should be increased as it would be a sustainable source to meet the water requirement of Haryana.
He added that the micro irrigation is a riskless concept and suggested the State Government to take this system from district to village and block level.
Speaking at the seminar, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, SY Quraishi said that water conservation is the need of the hour for which competitive multiple sectoral management is required.
He added that the Education Department could play a major role in the conservation of water by launching campaigns to save water in all schools of the State.