Haryana Government committed towards completion of SYL Canal: Prof Solanki

Chandigarh, March 14, 2016: The Haryana Government is committed towards obtaining its legitimate share of the Ravi-Beas waters and completion of the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal. The concerted efforts made by the government to secure early hearing of the Presidential Reference, which has been pending for the last more than 11 years, have borne fruit and the matter has now been taken up for regular hearing by the Supreme Court.
This was disclosed by the Haryana Governor, Prof.Kaptan Singh Solanki, while delivering the Governor’s Address on the first day of the Budget Session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, here today.
The Hansi-Butana Canal, which was constructed to carry Haryana’s own share of Ravi-Beas waters from Bhakra Command to Western Jamuna Canal and Lift Command has not been operationalised due to the stay order granted by the apex court. The cross examination of witnesses in the matter was completed on February 2, 2016 and the arguments are likely to start shortly.
He said that Haryana had an extensive canal network consisting of 1,461 channels with length of 14,085 km. Besides, the state has a vast network of drainage comprising 801 drains of over 5,144-km length. The capacity of the carrier channels has been reduced due to the continuous running of the system.
The state government plans to increase the capacity of the carrier system so that surplus water during the monsoon period could be utilised for irrigation as well as conservation and re-charging of ground aquifers. A major project for rehabilitation of the JLN Canal system costing Rs 143 crore, has been approved. The work has started and would be completed in a phased manner in two years. To remove the bottlenecks in the WJC Carrier System, five old dilapidated bridges are being reconstructed at a cost of about Rs 30 crore.
The Governor said that during the current year, a sum of Rs 85 crore had been spent on rehabilitation of canal network. Major rehabilitation works costing about Rs 150 crore are proposed to be taken up on Petwar Distributary, Hisar; Major Distributary; Prithla Distributary; Paharpur Minor; Khanouri Minor; Jakholi Distributary; Tohana Distributary; New Urlana Minor; Jahangirpur Minor; Loharu Distributary; and Bassai Distributary during the next financial year.
To provide end-to-end solutions in the irrigation supply chain, such as creation of water sources, rain water harvesting, distribution network, efficient on-farm application and extension services on new technologies in the state, district irrigation plans for six districts, namely Ambala, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Sirsa, Rohtak and Hisar, are being prepared under the Centre’s ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’. Plans for the rest of the districts would be prepared in the next financial year, he said.
Prof. Solanki said that out of the total 15,404 watercourses, about 9,600 have been lined under various projects. Since many of these watercourses were lined more than 30 years ago, they are damaged and require major rehabilitation. During 2015-16, a sum of Rs 60 crore has been spent for this purpose. The work of rehabilitation of about 84 watercourses costing Rs 36 crore, is in progress. A project for rehabilitation of 565 watercourses costing about Rs 300 crore has also been recently got approved from NABARD.
The state government has revitalised the Integrated Watershed Management Programme and 5,95,275 hectares have been taken up for development. The ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna’, with a budget provision of Rs 21.72 crore, has been sanctioned for water harvesting and management in the 22 over-exploited blocks of the state.
During the ‘Swarna Jayanti’ year of the state, the Haryana Government had framed a micro-irrigation scheme for optimum utilisation of available surface water in association with Command Area Development Authority. Under the scheme, a pilot project for irrigation through sprinkler and drip system for 13 districts would be launched in the next financial year, the Governor added. / (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)