The State Government has provided administrative sanction of Rs5.75 crore for construction of an Irrigation Reservoir project at Chanadongri region of Gaurela Development Block in the district.
The project when completed will help irrigate around 260 hectares of land in which water supply would be available for 160 hectares of land during the Kharif season and 80 hectares during the Rabi season, officials stated.
The Chhattisgarh Government's Minor Irrigation Scheme is proving to be a boon for Horticulture farming as under the project 'Drip irrigation' and 'Sprinkler Irrigation' are encouraged to make it more productive.
Every drop of water is utilized and more acreage is covered with less quantity of water. The coverage under Horticulture farming is rapidly increasing in the entire state,a government statement informed.
The Minor Irrigation project had been launched in 2006-07. About 20,779 hectare of land is covered by 'Drip Irrigation' and 52,679 hectare acreage under 'Sprinkler Irrigation'.
About 54,538 horticulture farmers had been benefitted. Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Project had been launched in 2015-16.
Twenty-seven companies had been registered in the Chhattisgarh State Agriculture Development Corporation limited for providing 'Drip Irrigation' in the State. The target for the year is to install equipment to irrigate 1785 hectares of land in the current fiscal.
The Chhattisgarh Government has initiated an online system for providing 'on-demand connections' for irrigation pumps and other new power connections.
During the last seven years, Government has provided free electricity worth nearly Rs1300 crore to farmers and of Rs600 crores to BPl families, officials stated.
In the upcoming years, Government will spend Rs1400 crore on 'Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana' and Rs550 crore on Integrated Power Distribution System Scheme, officials stated.
Chhattisgarh has made significant achievement in illuminating 986 villages and 668 majra-tolas located in inaccessible areas of the State and also in operating 2500 drinking-water schemes, using solar energy. For which, PM Narendra Modi had awarded Chhattisgarh for its special contribution in the field of unconventional energy.
Notably, the state-owned Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company ltd (CSPDCl) will be purchasing 50 MW of electricity from bio-mass power producers in the State. The company would sign a 20-year agreement with the power producers, officials stated.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among the leading States for implementing bio-mass power projects such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, according to Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Chhattisgarh had biomass projects generating a total of 249 MW of power as on March 31, 2015.
The total power generation from biomass projects by 12 other states during the aforesaid period in Megawatts is as follows- Andhra Pradesh (288), Gujarat (30.50), Haryana (13.50), Karnataka (107.50), Madhya Pradesh (26), Maharshtra (198), Odisha (20), Punjab (68.50), Rajasthan (101), Tamil Nadu (211.70), Uttar Pradesh (54) and West Bengal (26).