With a view to tackle the depletion of ground water in the state and to adopt measures of water conservation, the Haryana State Preservation of Sub Soil Water Act, 2009 has been enacted, which prohibits sowing of paddy before May 15 and transplanting of paddy before June 15.
Besides, a State Plan Scheme- 'Accelerated Recharge of Ground Water' -has been introduced to recharge the ground water in water-deficit areas of the state, Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister O P Dhankartold told Assembly today while replying to a question on the last day of its monsoon session.
He said the department was encouraging farmers to adopt drip and sprinkler irrigation.
"As many as 1,65,166 sprinkler sets have been installed till date since the inception of the scheme in the state," Dhankar said.
He said subsidy was being provided to the farmers for laying underground pipeline system in their fields from 2002-03 to reduce seepage and evaporation losses.
An amount of Rs 242.645 crore has been spent for laying underground pipeline system and an area of 2,06,223 hectares has been brought under cultivation till 2015-16, he said.
The minister said use of laser land levelling technology was being promoted and 5,150 laser land levellers have been provided to the farmers of the state on subsidy from 2007-08 to 2015-16.
To a separate question raised in the House, Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Krishan Kumar said a new beneficiary under the 'Old Age Allowance' scheme should be 60 years of age or above, be a domicile and resident of Haryana, and income from all sources together with that of the spouse should not exceed Rs two lakh per annum.
Kumar said in case the person was receiving pension from any government or local statutory body or any organisation substantially financed by any government or local statutory body, he would not be eligible to receive allowance under the scheme.
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