Rain water harvesting dam in HP to check desertification of farmland in Una villages

Shimla: Himachal's first ever multipurpose rain harvesting dam has been constructed on Samoor khad in Una district is all set to prove a boon for the farmers, who earlier used to depend on rainfall for growing crops even as groundwater depletion has created fears about mass desertification of the land. Constructed at a cost of Rs 16.38 crore to store surplus rain water flowing from a catchment area of 10 Square KM, the facility is going to benefit hundreds of farmers in the water deficient areas.

Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar said the dam will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur this month.

It is located on small hillocks and will allow rainwater to percolate underground to raise the water table. The surplus rain water earlier used to quickly drain off the rocky soil and hilly terrain and sometime led to flash floods also. The dam will be able to store up to 767 million litre of water, said Kanwar here on Sunday.

The water from the dam is sufficient to irrigate 233 hectares of crops and combat weather vagaries of surrounding nine rocky hilly villages for the entire year, which will directly benefit 1088 families living in the area to face onslaught of incremental heat and eventual drought. This scheme, which was in pipeline for over a decade, has seen the light of the day during the present BJP regime.

The whole hill range has been used as a catchment for the reservoir. The water will meet irrigation needs of 5580 population living in surrounding Samoor Kalan, Samoor Khurd, Lamlehri, Boul Upperli, Boul Jhikli,Karwalian Sanhal, Pernolian Sanhal, Malonia Sanhal and Balh villages.

Around 44 hand pumps and 31 wells which almost dry up during drought season in the areas will also be recharged through this dam during irrigation activities.

The farmers, who almost left cultivation due to lack of seasonal rains or they barely grow one crop a year, due to lack of irrigations will now able to grow cash crops/fruits and vegetables which is transforming the economy of the region.

"For the first time, villagers managed to grow citrus fruits like, guava, litchi, pomegranate, mausmi etc through the HP SHIVA project launched by the Horticulture department in these villages for optimum use of irrigation facilities.

The seedling by the fishery department has been done in the reservation to grow best quality fish and this will give another chance of employment to local people to start fisheries and tourism activities under the aegis of KTDS (kutlehar tourism development society) to generate one more step towards employment through fishing and tourism.

The state govt will develop this area as a model in convergence with various departments and involving the experts drawn from agriculture, horticulture, Tourism and animal husbandry etc, the Rural Development

Minister said. The water is now available at a depth of 60 feet as against 300-400 feet earlier, he said.