Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal on Saturday directed for ensuring hundred per cent dewatering of the flooded areas of the state in a time bound manner so that the farmers do not face difficulty in sowing their ensuing Rabi Crops.
The directions came while the Chief Minister was reviewing the dewatering arrangements through a video conference with the Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners of the affected districts namely Rohtak, Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat.
Unusually heavy rains in the last week of September had led to flooding of about 2 lakh acres of low lying agricultural fields in Haryana. It was informed that around 1100 electric and diesel pumps have been deployed in these districts for dewatering. It was also briefed in the meeting that dewatering is complete in nearly 70 thousand acres.
The Chief Minister directed the Power department to ensure 24 hours power supply in the areas where dewatering operations are under progress. He directed Irrigation department that if required, more pumps should be hired and the surplus pumps and resources from unaffected districts should be shifted to the affected areas immediately.
Manohar Lal also suggested discharging the excess water in the ponds and into Canals, wherever water carrying capacity was available, to take it to areas where there is demand. The Chief Minister directed the officers concerned to visit the field areas to assess the actual situation.
Finance Minister, Capt. Abhimanyu said that there will be no shortage of funds or budget for accelerating dewatering process. The funds would be released on priority to the affected areas for carrying out dewatering. The Finance Minister also visited various affected areas to take the stock of actual field situation.
Dewatering has been completed in Karnal, Kaithal and Panipat. Soon it will be completed in remaining districts of Sonipat, Jind, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Hisar and Charkhi Dadri before the sowing of Rabi crop, it was stated.
Chief Secretary, DS Dhesi and other top officials of the state were present during the video conference.