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Big plan to irrigate Tarai fields
KATHMANDU, JUN 15 -
With a view to promoting the agriculture sector, the Ministry of Irrigation (MoI) is planning to construct 100,000 shallow tube-wells in Tarai.
If everything goes according to plan, people who have prayed to rain gods to have their fields irrigated will definitely heave a sigh of relief.
According to the ministry, tube-wells will be constructed in phases, while it aims to complete it all in the next five years. A total of 20,000 such tube wells will be constructed every year at a cost of Rs. 1 billion.
“Mega projects to supply water for farmers’ fields are still in limbo,” Irrigation Minister Bal Krishna Khand said. He was addressing a programme organised here to mark the first anniversary of the establishment of the ministry.
Khand said the development of agriculture is a must for the country to develop. He said most of the people in the country still live in rural areas and they are dependent on agriculture.
The MoI has constructed 7,039 shallow tube-wells this year as per its “underground relief package” and 4,939 under the underground shallow tube-well irrigation project in Tarai regions. These tube-wells help irrigate 17,310 hectares of land.
Uma Kanta Jha, the MoI Secretary later told the Post that these projects will be a boon for those places where water supply is difficult due to the geographical terrain.
Construction of these tube-wells has, however, given rise to concerns that excessive extraction of underground water may degrade the environment.
However, Jha said a study has shown that over 100,000 shallow tube-wells can still be constructed in the Tarai.
The ministry has also constructed 13 deep tube wells and five medium depth tube-wells in the Tarai region.
The MoI also has plans to manage all small and big rivers across the country to avoid soil erosion and possible destruction caused by floods. The programme was told that 90 percent of the work regarding this in at least 10 big rivers in the south of the East-West Highway has been completed.
“The remaining work will be completed this year,” Jha said. He said the same could not be completed due to fund crunch.
The MoI has asked the government to allocate Rs. 15 billion in the 2010/11 budget for these projects.
Posted on: 2010-06-16 07:26
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