BHUBANESWAR: Setting a target to provide irrigation to 12.15 lakh hectare of land for raising rabi crops, the Water Resources department has requested all district collectors to ensure the objective is achieved by tapping water from different irrigation sources.
The department has further requested the collectors to fix a particular day of every month for ‘Secha Samikshya’ under which all irrigation projects and schemes will be reviewed in the presence of officers of line departments.
In a letter to district collectors, additional chief secretary, of Water Resources Anu Garg said, “Secha Samikshya is an important platform to resolve inter-departmental issues for timely completion of ongoing projects and to prepare strategy for maximising water utilisation of irrigation projects for rabi and kharif programmes.”
Since DoWR has come up with a programme to provide water to 12.15 lakh hectare for raising rabi crops through various irrigation sources such as major, medium and minor irrigation, mega lift irrigation, community lift irrigation and deep bore wells, appropriate steps may be taken to ensure maximum utilization of irrigation water by adopting crop diversification and promoting crops with low duty and high values, she added.
Meanwhile, the department has nominated senior officers as Jal Prabharis for all districts to monitor activities in coordination with the district administration. The Jal Prabharis have been instructed to attend the Secha Samikshya meetings during their district visits.