CM directs Irrigation Dept to revive defunct lakes

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 5

Alarmed at the decline of groundwater and lack of required initiatives for its recharge, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed the Irrigation Department to revive all defunct lakes and ponds in the state.

There are many water recharging structures across the state in Gurgaon, Rewari, Jhajjar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Jind and Panipat. But for the past many years, a majority of these have either been lying defunct or are not used to their full capacity.

Sources said that during a meeting of senior officers yesterday, the Chief Minister had expressed his apprehension about the decline of groundwater across state in the past some years. The CM also expressed his dissatisfaction over the initiatives taken by the previous governments for recharge of the groundwater.

“The meeting was called to analyse the working of the Irrigation Department, but the CM remained concerned about the decline of groundwater across the state. The CM directed senior officers to take immediate steps to revive the structures lying defunct,” said a senior officer.

Anurag Rastogi, Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, confirmed that the CM had directed them to take immediate steps to revive defunct water recharging structures across Haryana.

“We have directed all officers concerned to take immediate steps,” said Rastogi.

Figures of the Agriculture department show that it has constructed 2,184 wells across the state to recharge groundwater. Bhiwani has 220 wells, Hisar 171 and Jind 160.