Haryana to reclaim 16,660 hectares of alkaline land

Chandigarh, Aug 18 (UNI) The Haryana government has fixed a target to reclaim 16,660 hectares of alkaline land of the state during the current financial year to convert the degraded lands into productive lands.

Stating this here today, an official spokesman said that out of over 4.05 lakh hectares of alkali affected land, an area of about 3.06 lakh hectares had already been reclaimed up to last financial year.

The remaining area of about 99,000 hectares would be reclaimed in the next ten years by fixing a target of reclaiming atleast 10,000 to 12,000 every year.

He said reclamation of alkali soils had been undertaken by providing 50 per cent subsidy on the sale of gypsum to the farmers.

A provision of Rs 1.5 crore had been made under the scheme 'Subsidy on gypsum ingredient to reclaim alkali land in Haryana' for providing subsidy for Gypsum during the current financial year, he added.

He said gypsum was being used as soil amendment to reclaim alkali land.

UNI