Hry CM expresses concern over water level

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini directed officials to get all the ponds of the state cleaned so that their water can be used for drinking and for irrigation purposes.

“With the cooperation of panchayats, villagers should be motivated to not let garbage and dirty water pollute ponds,” he said.

The CM was chairing a review meeting of The Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority in Chandigarh on Thursday.

Senior officials of various departments, including development and panchayats, irrigation, forest, urban local bodies, fisheries, public works departments and National Highway Authority of India were present in the meeting.

Expressing concern over the dwindling groundwater level, the CM said: “In the first phase, a target of recharging groundwater of 500 villages should be set and this work should be completed within the stipulated period.” He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed concern over the matter. “The PM had said that the depletion of groundwater is the biggest challenge for the country and we all have to work together to deal with this challenge,” he said.

While giving instructions to initiate comprehensive water management through an audit in the state, the CM said Modi had recently launched the first phase of the National River Link Project to interlink rivers. On the same lines, the CM instructed the officials to prepare a roadmap to interlink the rivers passing through the state.