Raipur : Management of irrigation and drinking water is the responsibility of Water Resources Department: Minister Shri Ravindra Choubey

Instructions to increase the irrigation potential in the state,
prepare DPRs of the schemes included in the budget on priority
, do more and more work with the convergence of MNREGA, DMF and departmental items,
regulation committees will be formed at the district level to monitor ground water exploitation
Raipur, 08 July 2022                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Shri Ravindra Choubey took a meeting of senior officers of Water Resources Department at Shivnath Bhawan, Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar today and reviewed the progress of departmental works. Minister Shri Choubey said that the management of water for irrigation and drinking in the state is the responsibility of the Water Resources Department. He directed the officers to make the irrigation projects fit for water supply according to the designed irrigation potential as well as to complete the new works in time-limit. Minister Shri Choubey said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the demand for water supply from the irrigation projects of the department in urban areas has started increasing. Keeping this in mind, better arrangements for water supply from the functional projects should be planned. He said that the wastage of water should be minimized during irrigation or drinking water supply. For this, a concrete action plan needs to be prepared and implemented. In the meeting, Secretary of Water Resources Department Shri Anbalagan P., Joint Secretary Shri J.P. Pathak, Chief Engineer Water Resources Shri Indrajit Uike, Chief Engineer of Irrigation Project, Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineers of Water Resources Divisions were present.
Minister Shri Choubey directed the Water Resources Department and the urban body to prepare an action plan for supplying water from dams and reservoirs to urban areas through pipelines. He said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the drinking water supply system needs to be planned keeping in mind the future requirements to provide water from every tap. He also directed the officials to take necessary steps to prevent the dirty water from getting into the rivers. Minister Shri Choubey said that there is a law to keep rivers clean and safe. This should be strictly followed. Minister Shri Choubey also directed to expeditiously complete the work of both the under construction barrages in Arpa river in Bilaspur.
In the meeting, a thorough review of the actual irrigation status from irrigation projects in Kharif and Rabi seasons was also done in the last two years. Minister Shri Choubey directed the officers to pay special attention to reporting of irrigation area through all major, medium and small projects of the department. He said that in the last three years, a large number of irrigation projects, capacity addition, canal lining and renovation works have been done in the state. The gap between designed irrigation and actual irrigation is to be minimized at all times.
Minister Shri Choubey has given departmental works such as canal construction, lining, kada drain, stop dam construction and their repair works to Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme, D.M.F. And for getting maximum work done with the convergence of departmental items, prepared an action plan and instructed to get approval from the district administration. He also congratulated the concerned officers for the work done by the Water Resources Division, Kawardha and Bastar in this direction.
In the meeting, Secretary, Water Resources Department, Mr. Anbalagan P. instructed the officials to prepare and send the estimates of the irrigation plan included in the budget, speedy disposal of pending cases due to land acquisition and forest land, projects whose gate and head work. If there is a need for repair, instructions were given to complete it immediately. Along with sending the answers to the assembly questions within the time limit, instructions were given to ensure speedy implementation of the announcements of the Chief Minister.
Ground Water Regulatory Committee will be constituted- In the meeting, Secretary Shri Anbalagan P. said that Ground Water Regulatory Committees would be constituted at the district level to monitor the uncontrolled exploitation of ground water in the state. Draft ground water regulation is being prepared. He said that the number of borewells in the state whether established for irrigation, drinking water or commercial use, they have to be listed. He said that under this, it would also be proposed to charge a fixed fee from the people who earn profit by using water commercially. He directed the departmental officers to prepare a list of commercial establishments like industries, malls, commercial complexes, etc. where tubewell water is used in coordination with the Industries and Electricity Department.