Hyderabad: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday praised Telangana’s water conservation model and said that Punjab will soon replicate it.
On a day-long visit to Telangana to study some irrigation projects in the state, he said that Punjab needs to properly harness river waters to ease the pressure on groundwater due to paddy cultivation
Mann, who along with officials visited Siddipet district, told reporters that the ground water level in some parts of Punjab depleted to alarming levels due to over utilization of groundwater resources for growing paddy.
He said 3,800 liters of water has been drawn from the ground to grow one kilogram of paddy. “We have reached a situation where 80 per cent of the places have gone into a dark zone,” he said.
He said though Punjab is a state of rivers, the state’s canal system was built before partition and this needs to be upgraded.
Stating that Punjab is number one in the country in paddy production, he said his government was taking steps for crop diversification. However, as the Centre provides no Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops other than paddy and wheat, farmers were reluctant to switch to alternate crops.
Praising Telangana for developing a good system for recharge of groundwater, he said he would return to Punjab with a lot of learning from here. He was impressed with Telangana’s success in groundwater recharge and building check-dams.
He said if Telangana’s successful model is replicated in Punjab, the state can save money on electricity subsidy and use the same for the welfare of farmers.
The Punjab Chief Minister visited Kondapochamma Sagar reservoir, built as part of Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), which is claimed to be the largest lift irrigation project in the world. The officials of the irrigation department briefed him about the various aspects of the mega project. With the help of maps and charts, the officials explained to him how the water from Godavari River is being lifted.
Bhagwant Mann enquired about the working of the entire system built under KLIS and was impressed with the planning and execution by the authorities.
He also visited check-dams constructed at Erravelly to understand the artificial recharge structures developed by the Irrigation department
The chief minister also visited Pandavula Cheruvu in Gajwel constituency and studied the tank restoration works taken up under Mission Kakatiya.
“Inspected the dam project at Telangana with officials of the Irrigation Department… Telangana’s model of water conservation and proper use will be implemented in Punjab very soon… Our aim is to maintain the ground water of Punjab. So that water can be saved for future generations too,” he tweeted.
He is soon expected to meet with chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao as well.
This is Mann’s second visit to the state after his attendance at the mammoth BRS meet in Khammam in January.
(With excerpts from IANS).
