PUNJAB emphasises on conservation of water resources, advocates diversification

Chandigarh, July 17, 2013: To tackle the alarming situation of depleting water resources in the Punjab, the state government has emphasised on the need of conserving of water and enhancing its resources.

Stating this here today a spokesman of the government said that water played an important role in human lives. So in view of declining water resources and increased water pollution, World Water Conservation day was being observed every year since 1993 with a view to generating awareness amongst the people regarding this startling situation.

According to the spokesman, the Punjab Government has initiated many schemes to embark upon the dilapidated of ground water table and the water resources in a better way. The state has formulated an extensive plan to clean up the three rivers namely Satluj, Beas and Ghaggar at a cost of Rs.2332 Crore. Ensuring 100% cleanliness could not be possible because of the polluted industrial waste being released by the neighboring states of Haryana and Himachal in these rivers. However, this matter has often been raised by the chief minister Punjab with the centre so that these states could be dissuaded to release the waste material in the rivers thereby polluting it.

The government has also taken adequate steps to save the ground water advocating and executing the diversification plan in the state. The state government has increased the area under cultivation of Basmati from 5 lakh hectare to 10 lakh hectare and has announced a number of subsidies to woo the farmers. Likewise the government has announced 75% subsidy in all the districts of the state to cultivate Maize so that the farmers could be attracted towards other crops.