Digging of 1000 ponds in MP

Bhopal, Sep 27 (UNI) In a bid to tide over water crisis, the Madhya Pradesh government has started an ambitious 'Atal Gram Sarovar Pariyojana' under which more than 1000 ponds will be dug in a year to increase the irrigation capacity up to 2.5 lakh hectare, official sources said today.

The sources said a target had been set to dig at least five ponds in each of the 230 Assembly contituencies. Under this project, 849 minor irrigation schemes costing about Rs 1785 crore have been approved.

However, in the first year (2007-08) of 11th five year plan, Rs 404.63 crore had been provided for minor irrigation, while only Rs 13.36 crore had been provided for survey work under this head this year.

The project also aims at construction of infrastructure for water storage in all villages in a phased manner.

UNI