The loan will also supplement the Centre and Haryana government's efforts of developing climate change resilient villages.
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a loan of Rs. 285.06 crore to Haryana under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund for remodelling of 565 water courses in 10 districts of the state.
The districts to be benefitted are Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Karnal, Jind, Sonepat, Panipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Bhiwani. Giving this information, P C Chaudhri, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Haryana Regional Office, said most of the watercourses considered under the project had been constructed during 1975 to 1995.
Due to continuous use, silt accumulation and heavy floods in the past, a large number of the watercourses have been damaged. The lining is almost non-existent. It has resulted into increased seepage losses and decreased intensity of irrigation from the watercourses, he said.
Farmers at the tail end are not getting sufficient water. To overcome this problem, Haryana government has decided to carry out one time remodelling of water courses, he added. The total number of watercourses considered under the project is 565 and the total running length is 2,460 km.
These watercourses fall under three different canal Commands such as Bhakra (BWS Unit-426 Nos.), Yamuna (YWS Unit-109 Nos.) and Lift Canal (LC Unit-30 Units). It will result in assured water to the tail end farmers as well as saving of water, he said, adding that the scheme will benefit around 60,000 farmers.
It will also supplement the Centre and Haryana government's efforts of developing climate change resilient villages, Mr Chaudhri said.
With this sanction, the cumulative RIDF assistance sanctioned by NABARD to Haryana under RIDF (since inception of RIDF in 1995-96) has reached Rs. 5,323.46 crore involving 4,218 projects under various sectors like irrigation, rural connectivity, water supply, Anganwadis, girls toilet blocks, veterinary hospitals / dispensaries etc. and an amount of Rs. 3,663.70 crore has been disbursed as on January 31.