600 farm ponds planned to strengthen irrigation facilities in

In a bid to strengthen irrigation facilities, the administration in Odisha's Sambalpur district has decided to dig over 600 farm ponds, officials said.

All the ponds will be dug on farmers' land, they said, adding, the project will be implemented under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

"Work on the project has already started and a target has been set to complete the work on a total of 609 farm ponds before the monsoon," the District Coordinator of MGNREGS, Sobhit Bishi, said.

At present, work on developing 36 farm ponds is already in progress in different blocks of the district, he said.

While 45 farm ponds will be dug in Bamra block, 90 ponds will be ready in Jamankira block, 85 in Jujumura, 80 in Kuchinda, 80 in Maneswar, 90 in Naktideul, 80 in Rairakhol and 59 in Rengali block of the district, the official said.

Three types of farm pond are proposed to be dug, he said.

While selecting the beneficiaries of the project, priority has been given to the farmers belonging to SC and ST category, small and marginal farmers, Bishi said.

The farm ponds will help the farmers create storage facility during the rainy season and provide irrigation in the event of erratic distribution of rainfall during the Kharif season, he said.

Moreover, it will also improve the water recharge capacity, he said, adding farmers can rear fish in the farm ponds and grow vegetables in order to earn extra money.