Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (File)
– Photo: Facebook / Hemant Soren
Expansion
Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh on Saturday launched a water conservation scheme with an outlay of Rs 467.32 crore to benefit the farmers of the state who faced drought last year.
An official release said that under the programme, 2,133 ponds will be renovated and 2,795 percolation tanks will be constructed in all blocks of 24 districts of the state. The minister also laid the foundation stone for renovation work of 71 ponds and 184 percolation tanks.
A percolation tank is an artificially created surface water body to recharge groundwater storage. At a program in Ranchi’s Nagari area, he said, the government is making all efforts for the benefit of the farmers of Jharkhand.
He said that the state government has received 31.33 lakh applications from drought-affected farmers and 8.5 lakh of them have been given financial assistance so far. It is our endeavor to provide Rs 1,200 crore as relief to 30 lakh drought-affected farmers soon, he said.
The JMM-led government had on October 29 last year declared 226 of the state’s 260 blocks as drought-affected areas and decided to provide a cash relief of Rs 3,500 to each farmer family affected by the rain deficit.