Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday directed officials to provide irrigation facilities through a large number of anicuts that are being constructed on canals and rivers in the State.
The Chief Minister was chairing a meeting on ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ at the Mantralaya here.
He said that 51,000 Solar Irrigation pumps will be distributed to farmers at subsidised rates under the State Government’s ‘Sour-Sujla’ Scheme.
Singh said that a project should be prepared for the districts which have less than 10 per cent irrigation facilities under the Prime Minister Farm Irrigation Scheme.
The programmes should be implemented at the ground level and water also gets conserved, he said.
Groundwater is readily available in Surguja, Bastar and Koriya districts and steps should be taken to see that water is utilised in a constructive way, Singh said.
Solar pumps, tube-wells and open wells will be provided under the “Sour-Sujla” Yojana, he said.
The Chief Minister said that ‘Bhagirathi’ project had been introduced to meet targets of irrigation projects. Farmers will be immensely benefitted in the coming years from the project, he said.
Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal provided inputs regarding the expansion of irrigation facilities.
Secretary to Union Government’s Water Resources Department Dr Amarjeet Singh said that there is abundant groundwater available in Chhattisgarh.
Only about 30 per cent of this water is being utilised at present. Efforts should be made to make maximum utilisation of the groundwater, he said.
MGNREGA and other projects can be converged in districts where irrigation facilities are bare minimum, the Union Water Resources Secretary said.
He appreciated the presentation of Gariaband district officials on the Pradhan Mantri Krushi Sinchai Yojana. Focus should be on the 11 districts identified for irrigation facilities.
Water Conservation Expert Dipankar Sahay and Dr Alok Sikka gave detailed presentation on water conservation and other issues.