The State Government has approved Rs49.16 crore for various development blocks of Bastar, Koriya and Bilaspur districts for setting up irrigation projects, officials informed.
The projects would help irrigate 1,290 hectares of land in the Kharif season and 2012 hectares of land in the Rabi season, they informed.
Adminitrative sanction of Rs 18.63 crore has been given for Kumharavand anicut micro irrigation scheme of Jagdalpur block of Bastar district, Rs 8 .12 crore for Badkaghaghi diversion scheme for Manendragarh block of Koriya district, Rs 5.44 crore for water reservoir scheme of Khadgawa block of Koriya district.
Likewise, Rs 9.17 crore has been sanctioned for Lufa diversion on Donganala of Kota block and Rs 7 .77 crore has been sanctioned for Navagaon diversion on Sukhnai Nala of Kota block in Bilaspur district.
The Chhattisgarh Government had recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NABARD with the latter agreeing to provide loan worth nearly Rs 715 crore for completion of three incomplete major irrigation schemes under Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme.
These schemes include-- Kelo Major Irrigation Project, Kharang Canal Lining Project and Maniyari Canal Lining, which are to be completed by year 2019 to meet the target. The completion of these projects will expand irrigation facility in 47,685 hectares, officials informed.
Officials of Water Resources Department informed on the occasion that Central Government has included 99 important schemes in Prime Minister Agriculture Irrigation Scheme, which includes three big projects of Chhattisgarh.
All these three projects are on the verge of completion. 99% of the works under these projects has been completed, remaining construction works will also be completed soon.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is also among 13 states which had been mentioned in the Economic Survey report 2015-16 as a success story on use of drip irrigation by farmers on their lands.
The results from an impact evaluation of National Mission on Micro Irrigation of the Union Ministry of Agriculture conducted in 64 districts of 13 states mainly – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – are revealing on the benefits of drip irrigation, according to the survey report.
Chhattisgarh has set an ambitious target of raising its irrigation potential to 3.2 million hectares by 2028, officials informed.
Notably, the State government has ensured usage of nearly 73 per cent of the extended irrigation capacity which is far better than many other states of the country, officials stated.
The actual irrigation capacity for Kharif season has doubled whereas the irrigation capacity for Rabi season has increased by 10 times, they stated.