Bhubaneswar: A coordination meeting of Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment and Department of Water Resources, Government of Odisha was held on Wednesday at Rajiv Bhawan in the Conference Hall of DoWR to resolve various issues related to agriculture and irrigation for benefit of farmers. The focus was on availability and optimal utilisation of water from irrigation projects to commands of farmers for better productivity. Dr. Saurav Garg, Principal Secretary A&FE and Smt. Anu Garg, Principal Secretary of DoWR jointly addressed the meeting and gave necessary direction and advise to the senior officers and engineers of both the departments present in the meeting to act in a coordinated approach for the benefit of the first & foremost stakeholder of both the departments, farmers of the State.
Among major points of discussion, identification of gap between irrigation potential created and used by the departments through joint verification of irrigation commands at Block level and taking appropriate measures to bridge the gap, sharing information on availability of water in projects at Block, District and State level for crop planning through optimal utilisation of water before the Khariff and Rabi seasons, more productive interventions like horticulture activities through installation of solar micro irrigation system around hundreds of feasible check dams constructed in the state by Water Resources Department, intensifying Rabi crops in delta commands, jointly working to achieve the goals & objective of climate resilient projects to increase income of small & marginal farmers in minor irrigation and Panchayati Raj tanks and reservoir commands with assistance from World Bank and Green Climate Fund, providing micro irrigation facilities to promote non-paddy cropping in feasible major, medium and mega lift projects, micro irrigation facilities in deep bore well schemes are of worth mentioning. It was also decided to facilitate Pani Panchayats of Community Lift Irrigation Projects on diversification of crops and agro-clinic activities by DAOs, conducting district level training to CLIP farmers by A&FE through audio-visual media on minor maintenance of lift points. Aama Krushi and What’s App Groups of A&FE will be used to reach out to farmers to inform about the Secha Samadhan, a grievance management Mobile App for farmers on issues related to irrigation recently dedicated to the State by Hon’ble Chief Minister. The Call Centre facility of A&FE will also be used to receive irrigation related complaints from farmers. Intensive training programmes will jointly be taken by IMAGE and WALMI for capacity building of farmers in agriculture and water usage.
Finally it was decided to have such coordination meeting at State Level quarterly, especially before starting of Khariff and Rabi season to deliberate and decide upon issues related to both departments for benefit of farmers.
Among others, Sri S.K. Bashisth, Special Secretary A&FE, Smt. Archana Pattnaik, Special Secretary DoWR, Directors of A&FE, Engineer-in-Chief, WR, Engineer-in-Chief Planning & Design and other officers and engineers from both the participated in the meeting.
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