Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday said as many as 18,104 water bodies have been geotagged in the state under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan.

Attending a meeting of Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR)-2022’ Campaign through video conferencing today, Kaushal said geotagging of all water bodies was mandatory, therefore Ponds authority along with Haryana Space Applications Centre has geotagged 18,104 ponds, water bodies of the State, thereby making Haryana the only state to Geotag all its water bodies.

He said a five pillar strategy including institutional reforms, policy interventions, focusing on key projects and activities, convergence and implementation and governance has been adopted by the state.

Kaushal said the Haryana Chief Minister launched one of its kind Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme, launched from eight districts even during the Pandemic.

“With this, several MICADA (Micro Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority)schemes are catered to shift from flood irrigation to micro-irrigation to promote the saving of water. MICADA is targeting using treated wastewater (TWW) for agriculture and as many as 31 projects amounting to Rs. 256 crore have been approved covering 330 MLD,” informed the chief secretary.

Kaushal said 35 Micro Irrigation NABARD projects amounting to Rs 206 crore have been allotted covering  3127.27-hectare area.  Besides this administrative approval to 56, Micro Irrigation works amount Rs 300 crore covering 22941 area has also been given, he added.

The chief secretary said during the current monsoon season, for the first time by drawing extra water for recharging from Jawahar Lal Nehru (JLN) Feeder sufficient water was released continuously in the recharge channel for recharging, thereby utilizing surplus water available during monsoon season.

“This year a total of 20274-acre feet water was released through Lal Bahadur Shastri Recharge Channel continuously for 67 days resulting into the filling of Reservouir upto the level of weir gauge 241.0 meter against designed 242.20 meter. This has benefited around 22 villages to improve the underground water table,” he said.

Kaushal said in Haryana, Jal Shakti Abhiyan’s (JSA) Catch the Rain (CTR) campaign is focused on saving and conserving rainwater. Realizing the same, as many as 49,136 rainwater harvesting structures, around 8623 renovations of traditional water bodies, 25,921 reuse and recharge and 6238 watershed development structures have been constructed across the state.

“District water conservation plans have been formulated for all 22 districts. These plans are made from micro-level village plans and contain both supply and demand side interventions and strategic action plans for water conservation,”  Kaushal added. He said several policy reforms taken up by the Haryana government provide supplement efforts to the project and schemes and they act as guiding principles for implementation of schemes and projects.

‘New Watercourse Policy-2021’ has been implemented for renovation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion of watercourses for irrigation purposes, Kaushal said.