Punjab cabinet resolves to check groundwater depletion

The Punjab council of ministers on Tuesday resolved to take all necessary administrative and legal steps to effectively check the fast depleting groundwater table in the state.

In its resolution, the cabinet led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met here and underlined the need to take proactive measures for canalisation of the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi to conserve the groundwater by ensuring its judicious utilization besides saving it from contamination, an official statement said.

The chief minister stressed the importance of conserving groundwater for the future generations, warning that failure to do so would transform Punjab into an arid desert in the foreseeable future.

Pointing out that the groundwater level was depleting in about 85 per cent of the state, with an average yearly rate of fall of water level of about 50 cm, the chief minister expressed concern that 109 study blocks out of a total of 138 in the state were now under the over-exploited category, according to the Dynamic Ground Water Estimation Report-2017 report.

The problem could be ignored only at Punjab's own peril, he warned.