Irrigation Dept to construct 11 small dams in Barani areas

Lahore: Senior Minister, Raja Riaz Ahmad has said that as many as 11 small dams will be constructed by the Irrigation Department in the Barani areas of Attock, Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Chakwal for providing continued water to the close by farmers and provision of clean potable water to the neighbouring localities.

In addition to this, two small dams will be constructed after formal approval from ECNEC and construction of six other dams is also proposed under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the Barani areas.

This was disclosed by him while giving briefing to MPAs belonging to the northern Punjab, at his residence. High level Irrigation dept officials were also present who gave detailed briefing to the participants.

Water channels will also be constructed to arrange sustained supply of water besides developing water supply mechanism for the people, he told. Raja said that Irrigation dept. is spending Rs 11.3 billion on improving colossal irrigation infrastructure in the province to ensure continued supply of water for agri purposes.

He said that there was an overall improvement of about 5 percent in delivering irrigation water supplies at tails during Kharif 2008 as compared to Kharif 2007. Complaint redressal system has also been set up to address the grievances of farmers' complaints, he told.

The Punjab government has developed a composite vision and strategy for the irrigation sector. The long term vision is to provide adequate, equitable and reliable irrigation supplies to the cultivable lands aiming at enhanced agricultural productivity, and sustainable development with focus on holistic management and broad based institutional reforms. The strategic vision includes institutional and policy reforms as well as critical investments in rehabilitation and system improvement, he concluded.