Chandigarh, August 6 - Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Fisheries Minister Shyam Singh Rana has directed the officials to coordinate among themselves to desilt the salt-affected area of the state. He directed to start a special pilot project in Charkhi Dadri district and work towards achieving the target as soon as possible.
Mr. Rana was chairing a meeting of the department officials here today. On this occasion, Principal Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, Director Mr. Rajnarayan Kaushik and other senior officials were present. Mr. Shyam Singh said that the state government had set a target of desilting about one lakh acres of saline water land twice in the budget for the year 2025-26.
To achieve this target, the Agriculture Department and the Fisheries Department should work together. He said that the surplus land in the state is of waterlogged and saline water in which crops are not grown. He directed the officials to work on the possibilities of shrimp farming by constructing ponds in the waterlogged land.
He said that on draining the saline water of the land from the tube well, while the area will become waterlogged due to the groundwater going down, shrimp farming will also bring good income to the farmers. He directed to coordinate with the Disaster Management Department and the Irrigation Department to drain water through drains in view of the rainy season.
The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister also directed to work to encourage farmers towards natural farming. He said that there will be no shortage of funds for development works.