Canal irrigation: Over 13,000 water courses restored in Punjab: Hayer

Punjab water resources minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday said out of 15,741 water courses closed in the state due to the non-availability of canal water for the last several decades, 13,471 have been restored by the state water resources department in two months

Chandigarh: Punjab water resources minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday said out of 15,741 water courses closed in the state due to the non-availability of canal water for the last several decades, 13,471 have been restored by the state water resources department in two months.

Punjab water resources minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Monday said out of 15,741 water courses closed in the state due to the non-availability of canal water for the last several decades, 13,471 have been restored by the state water resources department in two months.

Now, of 47,000 water courses in Punjab, 2,270 remain to be restored, Hayer added.

“The government had issued a notification to restore water courses for irrigation. Besides, the condition of repairing water courses was abolished,” said Hayer in a statement.

He said till last year in Punjab, only 21% of irrigation was done with canal water. The new initiative will increase the area irrigated with canal water, he added.

Giving details of the works being done to deal with flood threat in rainy season, Hayer said the department has completed 318 flood prevention works at cost of ₹89.1 crore.