Nabard has sanctioned Rural Infrastructure Development Loan (RIDF) loan of Rs 185.35 crore for extension of Kandi Canal from Hoshiarpur to Balachaur in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in Punjab.
The project envisages construction-cum-lining of 18 km of main canal, 11 distributaries and around 582 km of water courses in the Kandi area of Punjab, Krishan Jindal, CGM at Punjab Regional Office of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) said in a release.
He stated with the completion of the project, an additional area of 29,000 hectares in Kandi area of the state would be brought under irrigation.
With the sanction of this project, cumulative sanctions under RIDF stood at Rs 5,309 crore, he added.
Irrigation sector with cumulative sanctions at Rs 2,205 crore has a major share of 41.5 per cent, he said.
Jindal emphasised on the importance of optimising the use of the available water resources by adopting multi-pronged strategies.
For increasing the efficiency of water conveyance systems, ensuring availability of irrigation water to the tail end farmers and checking seepage of water, NABARD has so far, supported lining of canals, distributaries and water courses in various districts of Punjab.
Around 30 projects have been sanctioned benefiting about 8 lakh hectares of agricultural land.
For tackling the problem of water logging in South-Western districts and protection/reclamation of agricultural land from floods/water logging in the Central Punjab, 1,701 projects which would be benefiting 5 lakh hectares of agricultural land have been sanctioned.
As a future strategy NABARD is focussing on encouraging the artificial recharge related activities so as to ensure development of agriculture and allied activities on a sustainable basis in the State of Punjab.