Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The issue of Punjab turning barren with the water table going down was raised in the Rajya Sabha today by the Congress.
Raising the issue, Ashwani Kumar said water table was going down by almost one meter every year. Moreover, the sub-soil water was getting polluted affecting the health of the people. a team of experts had reported the situation last year.
Yet another problem was waterlogging which had affected two lakh hectares in the state as per the state government study.
He said uranium traces had been detected in Bahthinda, Mansa, Moga, Ferozepur, Muktsar and Faridkot distrcts.
According to one study, 70 per cent of the 1686 samples of sub-soil water were found to be contaminated by uranium. Even the Planning Commission had admitted this problem in Punjab.
He said centre should also take immediate steps in coordination with the state government to save thus food bowl of the country from turning into desert. Although Punjab constituted only 1.57 per cent of the cultivable area in the country, it was contributing 50 per cent of the food grauins. He said 83 per of the land in the state was under cultivation. The centre would have to take it up as a challenge as the situation was grave.
