Patiala: Punjab ministers on Tuesday inaugurated lift-based canal irrigation projects worth Rs 26.7 crore in Ghanaur assembly constituency, extending canal water to 42 villages and bringing nearly 16,932 acres under assured irrigation.The projects were inaugurated by Punjab water resources minister Barinder Kumar Goyal and Ghanaur MLA Gurlal Ghanaur at Kolhemajra village. The minister said the initiative fulfilled a decades-old demand of farmers who remained deprived of canal irrigation despite the presence of a nearby canal network.Addressing the gathering, Goyal said the govt was focusing on reducing dependence on groundwater by ensuring that canal water reached farmers’ fields through modern irrigation infrastructure. “Instead of allowing canal water to go waste, the govt has utilised it for irrigation, strengthening efforts to conserve Punjab’s depleting groundwater,” he said.The minister said the principal component of the project involved construction of a lift irrigation system at a cost of Rs 22.2 crore, under which a 36.39-km underground pipeline network was laid to provide canal water to 38 villages, bringing 15,129 acres under canal irrigation for the first time.In addition, the govt spent Rs 4.5 crore on concrete lining of a 2.4-km stretch of the Ghadam Rajbaha, benefiting four villages and providing irrigation to another 1,803 acres.Officials said the two projects together provided canal irrigation facilities to 16,932 acres across 42 villages, reducing dependence on tubewells and lowering irrigation costs for farmers.Goyal said the state govt had spent Rs 450 crore on flood protection works across Punjab, describing it as the largest such intervention in nearly five decades. He added that Rs 13 crore was spent on strengthening flood protection measures along the Ghaggar river in the Ghanaur area. MSID:: 132708708 413 |
