3 dams will be constructed in Uttarakhand: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said three dams would be constructed in Uttarakhand to stop unutilised share of India in river waters from flowing to Pakistan.

The Minister for Water Resources and Transport said water from the dams would be brought to Haryana through the Yamuna river to overcome shortage and irrigate parched lands in the state.

"It will be taken to other states also," Gadkari said while addressing the 3rd Agri Leadership Summit-2018 on the concluding day here.

"During the Partition, India got three rivers, but we could not utilise our share of the waters which kept flowing back to Pakistan," he said.

Now, the central government has decided to stop the flow of the country's due share into Pakistan and utilise it to feed our parched lands, he further stated.

Gadkari said the central government had taken several steps to utilise the water flowing into the ocean.

Through drip irrigation, the farmers would get three times more water which would result in more than doubling the production.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the farmers of the country one-and-a-half times the cost of production of crops as MSP "and we will achieve it at any cost".

On the success of the third Agri Leadership Summit, Gadkari said this would give farmers a broader perspective, provide them direction and techniques, and offer the benefits of research.

The farmers of the state have made huge contributions to the country's grain stock. But the fate of farmers cannot be changed with the production of wheat and rice only, he said.

"I am a farmer and know well the situations the farmers of the country pass through," he said.

"Now, time has come to change the attitude of farmers. They should diversify into cash crops and explore the possibility of making bio-diesel from crop residue. In Maharashtra, 55 buses are running on bio-diesel. The farmers of Haryana can use crop residue for making bio-diesel," he said.

Gadkari said plan had been drawn to set up 1,000 industries for making bio-diesel in the country out of which, 100 would be set up in Haryana.

These will provide direct and indirect employment to about five lakh people of the state, Gadkari added.

Addressing the Summit, Union Minister of Steel Birender Singh said the condition of farmers remained a major concern of the Prime Minister and that he was working for their welfare.

Several decisions have been taken by him to double the income of farmers, Singh said.

Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Dev Vrat, and Haryana Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Minister O P Dhankar also addressed the meet.