House panel to study depleting groundwater

A principal secy-level officer will assist the committee to prepare the report and it will be submitted in three months

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab assembly on Thursday unanimously agreed to constitute a House panel to study and submit a report on the depleting groundwater level in the state. Speaker Rana Kanwara Pal Singh made the announcement in this regard during discussion on the issue during a motion moved by Congress MLA Harminder Singh Gill, along with other members.

A principal secretary-level officer of the state government will assist House panel to prepare the report on the groundwater in the state and the committee will submit its report within three months, said the speaker. Speaking on behalf of the state government, rural development and panchayati raj minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa assured all possible help to the House panel in studying the serious issue, it needed emergent solution.

Participating in the debate, Congress member Rana Gurjit Singh said the way Punjab has been extracting ground water, various reports suggest that after 25 years, there will be no water left for the routine purpose even.

SAD member Harinderpal Chandumajra said there was need for re-allocation of distribution of river waters. “What share Punjab is getting was as per the needs of the state in 1976. Things have changed since. Our crop pattern immediately demands diversification to save water,” said the SAD MLA.

To encourage diversification, SAD members said, the state should make efforts to include maize in the Coarse Grain Procurement Scheme of the government of India under which the government makes procurement for Public Distribution System. “This will boost cultivation of maize as MSP will be ensured under the PDS and if the area under maize increases, the paddy cultivation will automatically come down saving water as well as power,” he said.

AAP member Kulwant Singh Pandori said water contamination was one of the reasons behind increase in cancer cases in the Malwa region.

Finance minister Manpreet Badal, said 80% of the total water used for agriculture comes from underground. “For growing one kg of paddy, 5,000 kg of water is used and the figure for one kg of wheat is 3000kg of water. This shows that actually, Punjab is not selling wheat or paddy but it is selling its water,” said Manpreet. He said as the agriculture is a state subject and the fiscal position of every state is such that there is hardly any money left for the research in agriculture, the Centre should assist states. He also underlined the need for sensitising farmers regarding use of water. “I do agriculture in Rajasthan and Punjab. Let me tell you, I get more income from my crop in Rajasthan as compared to Punjab. Farmers in Rajasthan are more sensitive towards use of water,” he said.

Stressing a break from wheatpaddy cycle to save the groundwater, AAP member Kanwar Sandhu said the state gradually ignored production of crops that needed less water, mainly the oilseeds and maize whose production from 1970 to date has fallen from 5% to 0.5% and 10% to 1.5%, respectively.

SAD member Gurpartap Wadala said the state government should use the pressure built by the farmers to press the Centre to get a package for crop diversification and making rainharvesting mandatory.

The way ground water is being extracted, reports suggest that after 25 years, there will be no water left even for routine purpose in Punjab. RANA GURJIT SINGH, Congress MLA