With Haryana going through fast depletion of groundwater, the state authorities has now launched into a mission to examine the risk 14 of the 22 districts within the subsequent 4 years below the Atal Bhujal Yojana.
A participatory groundwater administration scheme, the Yojana is supported by the central authorities and the World Bank. Haryana will get monetary assist of Rs 678 crore to implement the scheme in 4 years. It will likely be carried out in Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Palwal. The pace of groundwater depletion in these districts is greater than the nationwide common, say officers.
Haryana Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh says: “Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to improve groundwater management in priority areas through community participation. As many as 1,669 gram panchayats of 36 blocks are also part of these 14 districts.”
These 36 blocks have been marked as groundwater burdened.
Referring to a modern report of NASA, Haryana Project Director (Irrigation) Satbir Singh Kadian says, “As per the report, the groundwater level depletes by one metre in every three years in India. But in Haryana, it depletes by one metre every year.”
Under Bhujal Yojana, the state plans to examine the pace of depleting groundwater. For instance, at present if the water stage in a selected space is 100 metres and it’s anticipated that it’s going to attain at 104 metres in subsequent 4 years, the authorities plan to maintain it at 102 metres by decreasing the depletion pace by 50 per cent.
To implement the scheme, the federal government has deliberate to incur expenditure of Rs 238 crore on water safety plan for every village which incorporates infrastructure improvement, measurement of the groundwater within the areas involved, high quality of the water and group participation. The remaining Rs 440 crore will likely be spent on capability constructing, which incorporates coaching of the NGO volunteers, rainwater harvesting and different water conservation actions.
“The major objective of this scheme is to create hydrogeological data network of groundwater resources in Haryana and encourage creation of community institutions for the management of groundwater resources in the state,” stated an official, including assist of NGOs will likely be taken for the implementation of the scheme at floor stage.
As a part of the scheme, the primary ‘Jal Panchayat’ was organised in Beholi village of Panipat district on July 10 to make sure group mobilisation, and to make a water safety plan for the village. Under the scheme, Dr Anil Gautam, a hydrologist working for Atal Bhujal Yojana, alongwith his workforce performed three days’ analysis to discover groundwater administration points in Beholi village.
The workforce examined the situation of groundwater within the village and performed water high quality testing. The ‘Jal Panchayat’ was organised to share findings of the analysis with the villagers, who in flip additionally shared their recommendations to resolve water-related issues in Beholi.
Panipat DC Sushil Sarwan, who additionally attended the ‘Jal Panchayat’, requested the villagers to preserve water assets. He additionally assured help from the district administration in making certain the profitable implementation of Atal Bhujal Yojana.
