The Chief Minister made several Important Announcements for Water Conservation.

• 01 May 2023

Why in News?

On 27 April 2023, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal made several important announcements in the direction of water conservation on the second day of the concluding session of the 2-day water seminar organized by the Haryana Water Resources Authority under Amrit Jal Kranti in Panchkula.

Key Points:

• Important announcements in the direction of water conservation-
• The area under direct seeding of paddy will be increased from 73,000 acres to about 2 lakh acres, increasing the area by 275 percent. This will save 218 mcm of water. For this, provision will be made for the availability of machinery and subsidy.
• Apart from this, more than 9500 water sources will be renovated in the next two years. These include 5308 ponds, 63 Chowk dams, 81 shallow tube wells and 4000 recharge borewells.
• An increase of more than 300 percent will be brought under natural farming from 6,000 acres to 25,000 acres. This effort will not only save water but also improve soil fertility.
• The state government has set a target of reclamation of 1 lakh acres of saline land in brackish water areas. To speed up the work to achieve this, the Agriculture Department will work closely with the Central Saline Soil Reclamation Institute and will finalize its action plan in the next three months. Machines will be made available for this work. If provision of subsidy has to be made, that too will be done.
• The World Bank has given in-principle approval for the expansion of Atal Bhujal Yojana in 14 districts of the state.
• In the first phase, a budget of 700 crores was received under the five-year plan. In the second phase also, a budget of about Rs 700 crore will be made available by the World Bank. This will cover 90 percent of the waterlogged area of the state.
• In the next two years, 50 percent of the demand for water in the agriculture sector will be met by the treated wastewater of STP. Apart from this, 75 STPs have been set up for the needs of agriculture. water will be used.
• Not only this but in the next two years, 100 percent of treated wastewater will be reused in 18 out of 31 HSIIDC estates. Only 50 percent of water is being used in STP, which will be increased to 100 percent.
• To make more use of water in the industrial sector, the state government has made a special plan, under which Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) will be implemented in IMT Sohna, IMT Kharkhoda and Global City Gurugram.
• The area under fisheries will be increased. Presently fish rearing is being done on 2500 acres, which has been targeted to be increased.
• The Energy Department will prepare the DPR of the project for the reuse of treated wastewater in Yamunanagar, Panipat, Hisar and Jhajjar power plants in the next 3 months.
• Possibilities of using treated wastewater for cooling power plants will also be explored, subject to economic viability.
• In the next two years, more than 250 urban ponds will be renovated under various schemes. Installation of Micro STPs and twin pipelines will be ensured in all licensed colonies/HSVP sectors. Treated wastewater will be used in parks and green areas of all urban areas.
• It is worth mentioning that on April 26, Haryana Water Resources Authority inaugurated a two-day water seminar organized in Panchkula under Amrit Jal Kranti.