PUNJAB & CENTRE GOVERNMENT TO SPEND RS 929 CRORE FOR THIS PROJECT
561 VILLAGES OF BATHINDA, MANSA, SANGRUR & BARNALA DISTRICTS TO BENEFIT
5,000 KILOMETERS OF IRRIGATION CHANNELS TO BE BRICK-LINED
BRICK-LINING THE IRRIGATION CHANNELS TO SAVE WATER
Punjab Irrigation Minister Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon informed that he had recently met Ms Uma Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and raised this issue. He thanked the centre government for clearing the project on priority basis.
While assuring the farmers, Mr Dhillon said that once this project gets completed by March 2017, the farmers of our agrarian state would get supply of water for irrigation purposes more efficiently. He said that it was a long pending demand of the farmers that they want their irrigation channels brick-lined. “And now, we have solved their problem and fulfilled our promise,” said Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon.
Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon informed that water used for irrigation would be saved once the irrigation channels are brick-lined. He said that the water which would be saved, would be used for irrigating more 1.15 acres of agricultural land.
Under this project, all irrigation channels of Kotla Branch of Sirhand Canal would be brick-lined. The minister informed that 561 villages falling in Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur and Barnala districts of the state would be benefitted. He said that the irrigation channels to be brick-lined are more than 5,000 kilometres in length and that the work would be completed in a transparent manner.
Mr Kahan Singh Pannu, Secretary, Irrigation Department, Punjab, informed that the cost of this project (Rs 929 crore) would be shared on 50:50 basis between the Punjab Government and the Centre government. He said that the centre government has already cleared the project and this project would be implemented through Punjab Water Resources Development Corporation.