54th Meeting of Haryana State Drought Relief and Flood Control Board | 20 Jan 2023

Why In News?

• On January 19, 2023, the 54^th meeting of the Haryana State Drought Relief and Flood Control Board was held in Chandigarh under the chairmanship of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, in which they have set a target to make Haryana flood-free by the year 2026.

Key points

• In the meeting of the Drought Relief and Flood Control Board, 528 projects have been approved, under which an amount of about Rs 1100 crore will be spent. Schemes worth more than Rs 312 crore have been approved for drainage and reuse of standing water in the fields.
• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that special projects will be set up this year to find a permanent solution to the waterlogging problem in the areas of the state which are facing severe water logging.
• Apart from this, more and more emphasis is also being laid on water conservation and reuse of rain water, which will help in handling flood situations as well as ground water recharging and water in drought affected areas.
• This time plans have been prepared through cluster approach for drainage of waterlogging. Bhiwani district has been considered as a cluster , under which HDPE pipelines will be laid in populated areas and waterlogged areas of 8 villages Kundad, Jatai, Dhanana, Badhesra, Siwada, Premnagar, Ghuskani, Dhani Sukhan. More than Rs 16 crore will be spent on this. This will lead to the extraction of water from about 2 thousand acres of waterlogged land.
• Apart from this, a plan has been made by combining 3 villages Singhwa Khas, Putthi, Madanheri, on which an amount of Rs 9.31 crore will be spent. This will lead to drainage of water from about 1500 acres of waterlogged land. Similarly, another plan has been made at a cost of about Rs 4 crore, which will drain out water from 885 acres of waterlogged land.
• He said that a plan of Rs 3.20 crore has been approved for the extraction of water from the fields of three villages Bhatol Jatan Rangdan and Kharkra considering district Hisar as a cluster. This will improve about 750 acres of waterlogged land.
• Apart from this, a scheme of Rs 2.50 crore has also been approved for Kharbala village. Separate schemes have also been approved for district Rohtak.
• Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal directed the officials to build lakes on such land where there is a lot of waterlogging. A plan should be prepared to create about 100 lakes, especially in NCR districts.
• With the formation of these lakes, the problem of waterlogging will also be solved permanently and the capacity of ground water recharging will also increase. To build these lakes, proposals will be sought from farmers for their waterlogged land.
• The Chief Minister said that availability of water is a big challenge in the present time, for which water conservation is the only solution. In this direction, recharging borewells are being installed in the districts by the government for ground water recharging.
• He said that taking a step forward in this direction, the state government has made a new scheme, under which farmers can install recharging borewells on their land. The government will spend money on these borewells and some cooperation will also be taken from the farmers.
• The Chief Minister informed that in the 54th meeting, schemes have been made under various categories. In this, more than Rs 179 crore will be spent on 97 schemes for water conservation and reuse of water.
• Apart from this, Rs 71.41 crore on 67 schemes of population protection category, Rs 132.86 crore on 125 schemes in protection of agricultural land category, Rs 77.90 crore on 49 schemes in dewatering machinery category, Rs 119.50 crore on 68 schemes of reclaimed of agricultural land category. An amount of more than Rs 110 crore has been approved on 59 schemes for reconstruction, repair of water and construction of new structures for proper flow of water in drains.
• Similarly, an amount of Rs 167 crore has been approved on 63 schemes under Haryana Water Resources Authority and Atal Bhujal Yojana.
• After the meeting, Manohar Lal said that generally 10 districts namely Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad, Sonipat, Kaithal, Palwal and Sirsa face waterlogging problem. Therefore, most of the schemes have been approved for these districts in the meeting, giving special focus to these 10 districts.
• He said that a meeting of the Haryana State Drought Relief and Flood Control Board has been scheduled to be held twice a year in the months of January and May. Short-term projects and long-term projects decided in the January meeting in May will be reviewed.
• For water conservation and reuse of water, the budget has been increased from Rs 35 crore to Rs 167 crore last time.
• He said that emphasis is being laid on recharging the water accumulated in the population and agriculture sector instead of draining out. Water is standing in more than 50 acres, the government is ready to take that land. Work will be done to build a pond or recharge well at that place.