Pb govt approves policy to check exploitation of ground water

To prevent exploitation of ground water, Punjab government has approved a policy stipulating guidelines for the release of electric connections for agricultural pump sets in the state for 2013-14.
Under the Agriculture Power Tube Wells Policy, Punjab Electricity Regulatory Commission has mandated the state government to decide the number of agricultural pump set connections to be released each year for reasons of ecology, inadequate ground water potential and declining water table.
The new policy guidelines have been formulated in the backdrop of state government's ambitious programme of crop diversification, an official release said here today.
The policy also aims to popularise drip/micro irrigation amongst farmers, especially the vegetable and fruit growers with a thrust on conservation of water, the state's only available natural resource which was becoming scarce due to the depleting water table.

"Reckless use of ground water has rendered 45 blocks in Punjab as over exploited blocks as revealed in the latest report of Central Ground Water Authority.
"Accordingly, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal gave a go ahead to these policy guidelines for the current fiscal and a proposed target of 25,000 AP connections has been fixed..," it said.