State urban development minister Mr Asok
Bhattacharya today said that the state government has sanctioned
an amount of Rs 1.62 crore to irrigate 298 acres of land at
Naxalbari block in Siliguri sub-division.
According to the minister, the amount would be utilised for
setting up deep tube wells, shallow tube wells and pump deep
tube wells in the specified areas which currently lack any
sort of irrigation facility. The state water resources, investigation
and development department would be implementing the project.
“Owing to the absence of proper irrigation facility,
farmland in the rural areas of Siliguri sub-division is either
lying idle or partially cultivated. The state government wants
to bring such land under irrigation and the sanction is a
step forward towards this,” Mr Bhattacharya told reporters
here this afternoon.
Referring to the shrinkage of agricultural land in Siliguri,
the minister, said: “Rapid urbanisation has put Siliguri
and Howrah as the top two places in the state, where farmland
has been vanishing fast. In the last five years, around 1,300
acres of cultivable land were officially converted into non-agricultural
land in Siliguri alone.”
Mr Bhattacharya, however, claimed that despite the decrease
in cultivable land, the average productivity has not fallen,
thanks to use of modern farming techniques.
On a different note, the minister said keeping in tune with
the government’s vision of providing safe drinking water
to each and every villages across the state, two new drinking
water projects have been sanctioned for the rural areas of
Siliguri sub-division.
That include, Rs 1.36 crore and Rs 86 lakhs pipeline water
project for Adhikari and Mangal Sing Jote, respectively, and
Rs 60 lakh for up gradation of existing project at New Chamta.
Besides that, a sum of Rs 4 crore has also been sanctioned
for setting up a comprehensive drinking water project at Kawakhali,
Pelku, Tiknikatha and Porajhar villages near Matigara, the
minister, said.
Courtesy: The Statesman |
Home | About Us | Contact
Us | Site Map | Feedback
