World Focus Magazine
World focus magazine in English published this article page no 73 in addition to construction of more than 41000 water storage structures 16.588 ponds were deepened and 8100 checkdams were dc-silted. this created 420 crore cubic feet additional water storage capacity. to ensure water security in drought-prone saurashtra reeion saurashtra narmada artaran irrigation (sauni) yojana was taken up under which on completion during monsoon surplus water from namiada will be transferred and stored into about 115 reservoirs of saurashtra. this work will benefit s.25 lakh acre of area in saurashtra. this is at advance stage of completion. in southern and eastern gujarat inhabited by tribals small lift irrigation schemes have been taken up in a big way providing assured irrigation to about 3.50 lakh acre farmland belonging to tribal communities thus improving their income. this integrated water management approach helped gujarat in ensuring irrigation in 68.88 lakh hectare farmland out of total ultimate irrigation potential of 70.80 lakh hectare. total irrigable area in the state increased from 33.77 lakh ha in 2001 to 68.68 lakh ha i.e. increase by 77%. as compared to 2002 by 2017 there was 50% increase in the utilisable ground water recharge by about 700 nicn1/ year. ground water table in whole state is continuously improving. over 19.48 lakh ha i.e. 20% net sown area in state is covered under micro-irrigation benetitting 12.28 lakh farmers. a total of 647 mld treated waste water produced by ulbs which is about 17% of the total freshwater use in the state is being used. since 2001. the agriculture production in the state increased by 255%. table 2 level of groundwater development in different parts of the state in 2002 & 2017 (nos. indicate assessment units) world focus magazine subscription.
