In a bid to revamp the State irrigation network, the Punjab Government has decided to prepare a master plan for all the canals and distributaries in the State.
Under this plan, all macro as well as micro component calculations should be down to strengthen the existing irrigation network so that majority of farmers in Punjab could be benefited, besides saving a large quantity of water being wasted due to seepage and excessive silting in rivers, canals, distributaries and watercourses.
The decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a high-level meeting with the officers of the Irrigation department.
Badal said that Rs1,565 crore project of relining of Rajasthan feeder was a flagship project of the State Government that would save 500 cusecs water daily from seepage after its completion within next four years.
He directed the Irrigation department to undertake this entire project as per the norms and specifications of international standards.
He also asked the Department to expedite its efforts to restart the work on Banur Canal project along with its nine distributaries at a cost of Rs87 crore that would create an additional irrigation potential for more than 3400 hectares of land.
On Chief Minister’s directions, Principal Secretary Irrigation KBS Sidhu assured him to expedite the formalities related to both the project.
He said that after finalizing all the technical specifications for the Rajasthan Feeder Relining Project in a week, the detailed notice for inviting tenders (DNIT) would also be completed within a month.