Sunday, April 17, 2011

Tackling waterlogging: Chief secy inspects Shajrana model

Tribune News Service
Fazilka, April 16
Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal inspected the project connected with removal of waterlogging by adopting an Israel-based model, which was being run by the public-private organisations at Shajrana village of this subdivision, late last evening.

The project was being jointly executed by the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited (PAIC), a state government organisation, Sampuran Agri Ventures, Fazilka, a unit of food-processing company Nasa Agro and Kirloskar Group. Under the project, water bodies would be created over the land, which had turned waste due to waterlogging, to make the saline water flow in it, creating crystals of sodium, cleaning the water for agriculture and drinking purpose and ,subsequently using the surplus water for production of fish.

Aggarwal, while speaking at the function, said this was the new model of tackling waterlogging in the region, which had become a major problem for the farmers for the past many decades. Aggarwal, who was accompanied by senior functionaries of different departments of the state government, said the Punjab government had been taking care of each and every problem of farmers and were trying to remove it in a phased manner. He said if the project produced desirable results, it could be used for solving the waterlogging problems in other areas of Punjab.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said Aggarwal also interacted with the farmers of Shajrana village to know as to whether the project was acceptable to them or not. He added that the project was being implemented in about 400 acres of land at the village, which was waterlogged, and it had already been approved by the Punjab government.

Sanjeev Nagpal, MD, Sampuran Agri ventures, Fazilka, said the project was a befitting answer to the problem of waterlogging in the Malwa region of Punjab. The concept could be used to make 1.25 lakh hectares of waterlogged areas in the south-west Punjab useful for fish farming, dairy farms, orchards, food-processing industry, packaged drinking water, biogas and power generation.

The concept of Kissan Uthaan was developed when a delegation, led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, went to Israel in July 2009 and saw how the wasteland was being converted into water reservoirs and agro-processing was integrated with power generation, he added.

Meanwhile, a section of the farmers of the region urged Aggarwal for providing them electricity connection for tubewell motors on priority basis. 

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