Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday in a video conference meeting with the union ministry of Jal Shakti. (Source: Twitter/@DiprHaryana) Haryana has become the only state in the country to geotag 18,104 water bodies to optimally manage its groundwater resources. This was informed by chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday in a video conference meeting with the union ministry of Jal Shakti.
Divulging details about Haryana’s journey for Jal Shakti Abhiyan – Catch the Rain in synergy – during the meeting of Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Kaushal said, “A 5-pillar strategy, including institutional reforms, policy interventions, focusing on key projects and activities, convergence and implementation and governance has been adopted by the state”.
The meeting was chaired by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. National Water Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti will be implementing the mission covering both urban and rural areas of all the districts in the country. The campaign will be launched on March 29 and will continue till November 30, 2022.
“Since under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan geotagging of all water bodies was mandatory, therefore ponds authority along with Haryana Space Applications Centre has geotagged 18,104 ponds, water bodies of the state, thereby making Haryana the only state to geotag all its water bodies. With this, several MICADA schemes are catered to shift from flood irrigation to micro-irrigation to promote the saving of water. MICADA is targeting using Treated Waste Water (TWW) for agriculture and as many as 31 projects amounting to Rs 256 crore have been approved covering 330 MLD”, Kaushal said.
“As many as 35 Micro Irrigation NABARD projects amounting to Rs 206 crore have been allotted covering 3127.27 hectares. Besides, administrative approval to 56 micro irrigation works amounting to Rs 300 crore has also been given. During the current monsoon season, for the first time by drawing extra water for recharging from Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Feeder sufficient water was released in the recharge channel for recharging, thereby utilising surplus water available during monsoon season. This year, a total of 20274 acres got water released through Lal Bahadur Shastri Recharge Channel for 67 days resulting into the filling of the reservoir up to the level of weir gauge 241.0 meter against designed 242.20 meter. This has benefited around 22 villages to improve the underground water table”, Kaushal said.
“As many as 49,136 rainwater harvesting structures, around 8623 renovations of traditional water bodies, 25,921 reuse and recharge and 6238 watershed development structures have been constructed across the State. District Water Conservation Plans has been formulated for all 22 districts. These plans are made from micro-level village plans and contain both supply and demand side interventions and strategic action plan for water conservation”, he added.
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