Setting yet another target, ‘Manohar Sarkar’ now aims to make Haryana flood-free by 2026. For this, special projects would be set up in waterlogged areas. This was decided in the 54th meeting of the Haryana State Drought Relief and Flood Control Board held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister here today. Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala also remained present in the meeting, while Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister J.P. Dalal attended the meeting through video conferencing. CM Manohar Lal Khattar said that more emphasis is also being laid on water conservation and re-use of rainwater. With this, along with dealing with flood situations, groundwater recharging and optimum use of water in dry areas will also be ensured. “For the meticulous implementation of this plan, 528 projects amounting to Rs.1100 crore have been approved in the meeting,” said the Chief Minister. CM Khattar said that schemes worth more than Rs 312 crore have been approved for purchasing dewatering machinery and re-use of water. He added that this time schemes have been prepared for waterlogging through a cluster based approach. The Chief Minister said that Bhiwani district has been considered as a cluster, under which the HDPE pipeline will be laid in 8 villages Kungar, Jatai, Dhanana, Badesra, Siwara, Premnagar, Ghuskani, Dhani Sukhan’s abadi and waterlogged areas. An amount of more than Rs. 16 crores will be spent on this. Under this scheme, water will be drained out from about 2000 acres of waterlogged land, said Manohar Lal Khattar. Besides this, another cluster-based project has been planned for 3 villages namely Singhwa Khas, Puthi, and Madanheri, on which an amount of Rs. 9.31 crore will be spent. Under this plan, water will be drained out from about 1500 acres of waterlogged land. Similarly, another project costing about Rs. 4 crore has been prepared and will be implemented to drain out water from 885 acres of waterlogged land, shared the Chief Minister. Similarly, a project costing Rs. 3.20 crore has been approved for the drainage of water from the fields of 3 villages namely Bhatol Jattan, Rangran and Kharkara considering district Hisar as a cluster. This will improve about 750 acres of waterlogged land. Apart from this, a scheme of Rs 2.50 crore has also been approved for Kharbala village. Separate schemes were also approved for the Rohtak district. Prepare a plan to develop lakes on waterlogged land, CM Manohar Lal directed the officers that lakes should be developed in water-logged areas. A plan should be formulated to make about 100 lakes, especially in NCR districts. With the development of these lakes, a permanent solution to the problem of water logging will be done; along with this the capacity of groundwater recharging will also increase. To develop these lakes, proposals will be sought from the farmers who are having waterlogged land. The Chief Minister also reviewed the schemes approved in the 53rd meeting. While giving directions regarding some of those works which could not be started yet due to shortage of dewatering machinery, CM Manohar Lal gave strict directions that the purchase of dewatering machinery for the entire state should be done through the High Powered Purchase Committee. The Chief Minister said that the availability of water is a big challenge in today’s time. Water conservation is the only solution to this. In this direction, recharging borewells are being set up by the government in the districts for groundwater recharging.