Punjab Government has sanctioned Rs 62.39 crore for maintenance and repair of partially damaged water drainage system due to the inclement rainy season last year.
The State Irrigation Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon said that the State Government has approved the amount with an intention of strengthening the drainage system damaged during monsoon season of 2015.
“Heavy rains and releasing of water from Bhakra Dam, Pong Dam, Ranjit Sagar Dam had caused excessive damage to the water drainage systems in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Hoshiarpur, ludhiana, Pathankot and Tarn Taran. These funds would be utilized in repairing rivers, choes, tributaries and damaged studs, spurs and dams in holy bein,” he said.
Dhillon said that the State’s irrigation network would witness a massive improvement with the approval of Rs209 crore was accorded to a project in which the water courses of Ghaggar branch in the State would be concretised thereby benefiting the farming community of Malwa region and leading to increase in the agricultural output.
Revealing details about projects approved for the state by the Central Government in previous two years, Dhillon said that the NDA government has sanctioned projects worth Rs 1,886.89 regarding concretization of water courses of Ghaggar branch canal, Kotla branch, Bist Doab and Kandi Canal-I, flood stopping arrangements on rivers at joint Indo-Pak border and National Hydrology project.