Chief Secretary Ajay Singh directed officials of Water Resources Department on Tuesday to strive for early solution to the land and forest clearance cases for ongoing construction of irrigation projects to avoid any cost overruns.
He was chairing the review meeting of the department's activities at the Mantralaya here .
The Chief Secretary stated that the flagship irrigation projects of the State mainly Arpa Bhaisajhar in Bilaspur district and Mohad reservoir project in Rajnandgaon should be completed before their prescribed deadline.
Water Resources Department Secretary Sonmoni Borah made a presentation of the Department's status of ongoing projects.
He informed that work on construction of eight big, 35 medium and 2457 small irrigation and 651 Anicut-stopdams projects had been completed.
A total of four big, three medium, 418 small irrigation projects and 157 stopdam-anicuts have been completed which is helping irrigate 20.61 lakh hectares of land by December 2017.
Notably, it may be recalled that Chhattisgarh Government in month of March last year had also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NABARD with the latter agreeing to provide loan worth nearly ` 715 crore for completion of three incomplete major irrigation schemes under Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme.
These schemes include-- Kelo Major Irrigation Project, Kharang Canal Lining Project and Maniyari Canal Lining, which are to be completed by year 2019 to meet the target. The completion of these projects will expand irrigation facility in 47,685 hectares, officials informed.
Officials of Water Resources Department informed on the occasion that Central Government has included 99 important schemes in Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme, which includes three big projects of Chhattisgarh.
All these three projects are on the verge of completion. 99% of the works under these projects has been completed, remaining construction works will also be completed soon.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is also among 13 states which had been mentioned in the Economic Survey report 2015-16 as a success story on use of drip irrigation by farmers on their lands.
The results from an impact evaluation of National Mission on Micro Irrigation of the Union Ministry of Agriculture conducted in 64 districts of 13 states mainly – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – are revealing on the benefits of drip irrigation, according to the survey report.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government decided to follow the Gujarat model of 'Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation' practices in the State in 2015-16.
It is worth mentioning here that many villages in Gujarat have adopted 100 per cent Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation systems to water crops. In June 2009, more than 93,000 farmers in Gujarat have adopted Drip Irrigation for their total 1.51 lakh hectare land.
Drip Irrigation system and inter-linking of 21 rivers of Gujarat for conservation of water has made it possible for record Sugarcane cultivation in that State.
The Gujarat Green Revolution Company Ltd (GGRC) is aimed to promote Micro Irrigation System (MIS) to the farmers of Gujarat as an implementing agency on behalf of Government of Gujarat (GoG) and Government of India (GoI) to bring 2nd Green Revolution in consonance with the 'Agriculture policy of Gujarat Vision 2010' so as to save water and energy, besides multiple benefits to improve Agricultural productivity and farmer’s prosperity at large.
The Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd (GAICL) and Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) adopts various programs and schemes for the Agriculture and Horticulture segment for investments and other processing subsidies in the Food Processing Sector. Agri implement service help is provided by the Gujarat Government for open pipelines and purchase of Tractors, etc. Bio gas subsidies are offered with loan application, officials stated.
The Chhattisgarh State Seed and Agriculture Development Corporation will distribute Drip and Sprinklers to the State's farmers under the Minor Irrigation Project, officials here stated.
Chhattisgarh has set an ambitious target of raising its irrigation potential to 3.2 million hectares by 2028, officials informed.
Notably, the State Government has ensured usage of nearly 73 per cent of the extended irrigation capacity which is far better than many other states of the country, officials stated.