DEPARTMENT INTRODUCTION

ORGANIZATION SET-UP

    The Department of Soil and Water Conservation was established as a independent department in the year 1969, Earlier it was a wing of Agriculture Department. The Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Punjab is headed by Chief Conservator of Soils, Punjab and has it’s Headquarters at Chandigarh. There are total 5 posts in the rank of Conservator of Soils with 1 post in the rank of Conservator of Soils (HQ) at Chandigarh and 1 post of Conservator of Soils designated as Director Technical (State Land Use Board). Also, 3 posts of Conservator of Soils are in the field and they control territorial circles in their jurisdiction. Under the Conservator of Soils, there are 3 or 4 officers in the rank of Divisional Soil Conservation Officers. Each Divisional Soil Conservation Officer controls 3 or 4 Sub-Divisional Soil Conservation Officers. Apart from it, there is one Soil Survey Division, one Machinery Division and one Training Institute each headed by a Divisional Soil Conservation Officer.

INFRASTRUCTURE

    The department has its own  complex at phase-VI, Mohali spread over 10 Acres which includes Training Institute,  Auditorium with seating capacity of 500 persons, Conference Room, Rest House, Hostels for Trainees, Soil Testing Laboratory, Beautiful Lush Green Lawns and orchards with demonstration of Drip Irrigation System, Machinery House, Canteens besides housing Offices of Director State Land Use Board, Conservator of Soils Mohali, Soil Survey Division, Machinery Division, Training Institute and Divisional Soil Conservation Officer-Works Division and also residential quarters for class-IV employees. The department has its own computer lab with all  facilities like internet, office networking and dedicated employees at headquarters Chandigarh

          The department has a staff strength of 2220 employees, out of which 1500 employees are in the technical cadre and 720 employees are in the administerial cadre. The head office has a strength of 80 employees in the ministerial cadre/Technical Cadre. The technical staff like Soil Conservation Officers, Junior Engineers, Surveyors, Agriculture Sub-Inspectors, Draftsmen and Junior Draftsmen are posted in the field offices to carry out soil and water conservation works. Apart from territorial divisions, there are three divisions who carry out works through out the state. The Divisional Soil Conservation Officer (Machinery) maintains a fleet of machinery in the department and Divisional Soil Conservation Officer (Training Institute) heads a Departmental Training Centre. Soil Survey Division carries out of Soil Survey work throughout the state. The department also has a nucleus cell of State Land Use Board headed by Director (Technical) in the rank of Conservator of Soils.

SCOPE

    Punjab has a total geographical area of 50.36 lacs hectares. Out of which, 42.68 lacs ha area is under cultivation. The soils in the State of Punjab is facing severe degradation because of many reasons, which includes soils erosion, raising water table, salt affected soil, over use of chemical etc.   About 39% of the Soils in the State are degraded. The Shivaliks receive about 1100 mm of annual rainfall every year as compared to 500 mm in Southern Zone and 730 mm in Central Zone. About 80% of the mean annual rainfall is received in three monsoon months. The total water resources available are 31 Lacs Hectare metre, surface Canals provide 14.5 Lacs Hectare metre and ground water recharge (rains ands canal seepage) provides 16.8 Lacs Hectare metre of water. The demand of water for agricultural purposes is 43.7 Lacs Hectare metre and the excess demand of 12.4 Lacs Hectare metre is met through over-exploitation of ground water resources. Though there is not much change witnessed in the last few years in the surface water resources, the underground water resources have deteriorated to a large extent especially as a result of Paddy-wheat cycle followed during and after Green Revolution. The ground water is Govt. of Indiang down by 30 cm per year. It is declining in 77% area of the state where ground water quality is good and canal water is limited. The area of Central Punjab where water table has gone down below critical depth of 10m was 3% in 1973, 25% in 1990 and 46% in 1994. This calls for urgent steps to conserve the available ground water and increasing the recharge of ground water resources.

This department is serving the state since the year 1969 for conservation of 2 important natural resources of soil & water. Till date, the department, through various Govt. of India/State schemes, has benefited 746637 hectares of land by way of various activities like Land leveling, Bench Terracing, Underground Pipeline Systems, Contour bunding, Gully Reclamation, Waste land development, Watershed Management, Water Harvesting Structure, Tapping of Hill Seepage, Lift irrigation schemes including Hydrams, Field Drainage, Drip Irrigation etc. These works are also helping to save approx. 329 Million Cubic Metres (MCM) of water every year. In the absence of these works, the surface & ground water resources would have suffered greater losses as this quantity of water was to be drawn out of them only.

The implementation of watershed development schemes helped in checking soil erosion resulting in increased land productivity. The harvesting of rain water helped in conserving the moisture in-situ and recharge the ground water. Water availability for human consumption, livestock and irrigation is also augmented. The underground water level which is fast depleting has been checked. For judicious use of precious ground water, improved on farm water management practices are propagated. Sprinkler irrigation system is being promoted by providing subsidy incentive. In order to improve on farm water conveyance by reducing evaporation and seepage losses from field channel and to avoid labour intensive process of maintenance of open channels, under ground pipelines system of water conveyance is being promoted by providing subsidy incentives.

Major Programmes of the Department are:

Integrated Watershed Management  Programme (IWMP/IWDP)

The main objectives of the IWMP/IWDP are to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water.  The outcomes are  prevention of soil run-off, regeneration of natural vegetation, rain water harvesting and recharging of the ground water table.  This enables  multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area. Till 1.4.2008,  3 watershed  programmes viz. Integrated Wastelands Development Programme,  Drought Prone Areas Programme, Desert Development Programme. Since then, they have been brought under a comprehensive programme named Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) to be implemented under Common Guidelines on Watershed Development,2008. 

Micro (Drip/Sprinkler) irrigation systems in Punjab

Under this programme 50% subsidy is being for the installation of Drip/micro sprinkler irrigation systems. For Small and Marginal farmers the subsidy is 60% The scheme is  90:10 sharing basis between Govt. of India and State Govt. The drip/sprinkler irrigation system is scientific technique for a water saving device. The use of this irrigation system saves precious water. More area is brought under cultivation, Fertilizer and pesticides can be sprayed uniformly

Under ground pipe line system of water conveyance

The system is quite affective where flow irrigation is required over traditional method of flood irrigation. .Water losses through evaporation and transportation is reduced to nil. The system once laid can remain affective for many years.

Farm Machinery

The department has a fleet of 5 bulldozers, 8 Laser Levellers, 1 Excavator-cum-loaders,  3 Tractors, Trencher, Scrapper & Chiseler for undertaking various soil & conservation works in the State. This machinery is available on rent at subsidized rates approved by govt. for farmers of the state. There is a separate division for running & maintenance of machinery working under Divisional Soil Conservation Officer with its Headquarter at Mohali.

Technology Development, Extension and Training (TDET)

This Scheme of  is  being implemented to promote development of cost effective and proven technologies for development of various kinds of wastelands specially problem lands affected by soil erosion, land degradation, salinity, alkanity and water logging etc.The major activities include conserve and increase water regime, through soil and moisture conservation, vegetative measures like gully plugging, check dams, water harvesting structures, terracing, bunding, trenching etc

Utilization of Treated Sewage Water for Irrigation

The growing economy and urbanization of cities and small towns of the state has lead to ever increasing sewerage discharge (domestic and industrial. due to unorganized sewerage disposal system, the waste water is drained into rivers which inturn has created various environmental and health hazards. Under this scheme department is laying underground pipelines from the Sewage treatment plants  to the fields of farmers for irrigation purposes. The department took the initiative under cleaning of buddah nalah and holy bein project to use the treated water from STP for irrigation, Such projects are also running successfully in Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts and various other projects around several cities are proposed to be set up. these projects are saving precious water resources as well as diesel and electricity and the farmers are getting non stop, nutrient rich water free of cost in their fields

Ground Water Recharging

To keep a check on the continuously degrading ground water resource in Punjab, Ground Water Recharging is the only solution. Out of the total 141 of the state, more than 100 blocks have turned Dark where the under ground water development has crossed 100%. Under this scheme, funds are taken from Central Ground Water Board for installing ground water recharging projects in the affected districts especially Patiala, Sangrur and Ropar. Earlier, these projects were undertaken on experimental basis but from the current year, such projects have been given special emphasis by including them in a special Integrated proposal of soil & water conservation.

Schemes for Wet Land Improvement

To control the soil erosion, water harvesting and other works in the Ropar Wet land and Harike Wet Lands, funds are provided by Punjab Science and Technology Department to the department.

Encouraging crop diversification.

There is a proposal of the state Govt. to diversify cropping pattern in 10 lac hectares. For successful implementation of the proposed crop diversification plan in the state, there is need to make existing Soil & Water resources compatible to the new cropping system. Apart from correcting the soil structure by latest techniques like residue management, chiseling etc, efficient use of available water and recharging of harvested rainwater/runoff, on farm water management etc. are needed to be taken up on priority. However, to involve the large number of small and marginal farmers (44.8%) in the diversification process, incentives in the shape of crop inputs, Minimum Support Price (MSP), Value addition, Agro-processing industry etc are must. also Subsidy & incentives may also be provided to farmers to enable them to adopt investment intensive water conserving techniques like underground pipeline systems, drip irrigation, ground water recharging etc. The department is chipping in the diversification process through its schemes of soil & water conservation on farmers' fields.

Water Harvesting Structures

Rainwater is harvested through these structures  which helps in recharging the ground water table. The stored water even helps in providing life saving irrigation to crops. These structures also help for controlling flash floods besides checking erosion 

Land Use Policy and Water Use Policy.

The land under agriculture is bound to decrease in Punjab due to other pre-occupations like Govt. Infrastructure (e.g., roads, canals etc.), residential buildings, industries etc. Though there is need of a proper legislation to control the uncontrolled and unsystematic spread of land holdings for various uses, this department is already in process of framing a land use policy for the state through the Punjab State Land Use and Wasteland Development Board. Also, the department is also associating with the department of water resources in framing a Water Use Policy for the state.

Integrated Project for Conservation of Soil & Water Resources of Punjab

Various techniques have been proposed for not only conserving the existing ground water resources but also to recharge the ground water aquifer. The department intends to undertake construction of Rainwater Harvesting Structures, Perennial Flow (Makkowal Type)/Hill Seepage Structures, Lift Irrigation Projects, Construction/renovation of ponds alongwith inlet/ outlet structures, Construction of Retaining Walls, Construction of Roof-top Rainwater Harvesting Structures etc