August 01, 2016
“Wiser water retention strategies have shown the way to rejuvenate the wasted land of Bundelkhand that has been battling drought for years.”
The seven districts of Bundelkhand – Jhansi, Mahoba, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Banda, and Lalitpur had been reeling under a severe drought due to scanty rainfall. Two months back, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav showed a ray of hope to dry and baked landscape of Bundelkhand by adopting better ways to conserve water with more sustainable and varying use of land through ‘Samajwadi Jal Sanchay Yojna’
Success of Samajwadi Jal Sanchay Yojna
In order to get permanent solution of Bundelkhand drought, Samajwadi Party government have initiated a pond revival scheme ‘Samajwadi Jal Sanchay Yojna’ to improve the situation of irrigation in the area. Uttar Pradesh irrigation department has worked well on the rejuvenation of these ponds and made them ready to store rain water before the monsoon sets in.
Now the monsoon has transformed the otherwise dry Bundelkhand into a lush-green belt of eye-pleasing gardens, rivers and ponds.
The idea of digging ponds by utilizing the rain water has been taken up very well by the government of Uttar Pradesh. Here are some photos of the rejuvenated ponds:
The revival of ponds has multiple benefits. Along with re-charging the ground water, villagers can use the water for irrigation as well as for domestic purposes.
This is not the first time when Akhilesh Yadav has announced something special for Bundelkhand. Numerous other initiatives like providing free food, ensuring employment, establishing solar power plants, installation of hand pumps and schemes like Samajwadi Pension have also been undertaken by his government for Bundelkhand.
Construction of Dams
Now it has rained, but it doesn’t mean that the problems of Bundelkhand have been solved. Uttar Pradesh government is doing intensive planning and continuous support for Bundelkhand. For this, Uttar Pradesh irrigation department have started the construction of 13 dams out of which 9 have been completed. To supply drinking water in 378 villages in Jhansi district, the irrigation department is constructing an arch dam. In Lalitpur district, Korean technology has been used for the construction of a rubber dam for water storage.
Uttar Hamara appreciates the efforts made by UP’s youngest CM Akhilesh Yadav and hopes that Bundelkhand fights back all its water crisis in the coming time.