Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Sh. Shyam Singh Rana directed agriculture officers to make a concrete plan to resolve the problem of waterlogging and saline land in the state, and said there will be no shortage of budget for the benefit of farmers. Sh. Rana was chairing a meeting of officials of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department here today.
On this occasion, he reviewed the steps being taken for the improvement of waterlogged and saline land. Additional Chief Secretary Sh. Raja Shekhar Vundru, Director Sh. Rajnarayan Kaushik and other senior officials were present in the meeting. Addressing senior officials of the department from the field, the Agriculture Minister said these officials were in direct contact with the farmers, and in consultation with them, the officials should suggest alternative measures to resolve the problem of water logging and saline land as soon as possible.
He told the officials that in the villages where panchayat land is affected by water logging, they need to encourage the farmers to rear prawns by making ponds there. This will not only help in using saline water but will also provide additional income to the panchayats.
He instructed the officials to explore the possibility of a district-wise plan to improve the waterlogged land. He said in areas where the problem is more, efforts should be made to resolve the issue by draining out the water.
The minister was informed that 686 villages in 13 districts of the state are affected by water logging. He said 8 per cent of the agricultural land of the state, i.e. 9,82,731 acres of land is affected by water logging problem. At present, Sirsa and Gurugram districts have been made water logging -free, while Fatehabad district will be made so by the end of this year.
Officials said Sub Surface Drainage Technique and Vertical Drainage Technique are adopted to free the land from sediments and salts. Apart from these, under the biological drainage scheme, both the techniques are made effective by planting water-consuming trees like Safeda etc.