Punjab drew water in bulk for kharif,now struggles for rabi

“Depletion of groundwater level” coupled with “lower water levels in reservoirs” are going to be the core issues stacked against its rabi (winter) crop

especially wheat,which contributes substantially to government stocks for its welfare schemes.

“Due to poor monsoon,the groundwater recharge has reduced. The groundwater level in central districts has declined by 1-2.5 meters since June 2009,” the Punjab government told the Union Agriculture Ministry at a rabi conference in the last week of September. The ministry had called the meeting to start early preparations for the forthcoming winter crop,where the government plans to recoup the losses in the kharif crop due to deficient monsoon.

In fact,a study published in Nature using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellite showed the decline in water tables in Punjab during the kharif crop season much higher than the annual average of 33 cm.

An analysis of the data by Grace on Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan led a scientist of the US agency,Mark Rodell,and his colleagues to conclude that groundwater levels in these regions were declining at a rate of 1 metre every

three years.

The substantial decline in water tables in a single crop season in Punjab can be attributed to the deficient rainfall in the region this monsoon,forcing the state to dig deeper to save its paddy crop. Punjab utilised its network of over 12 lakh tubewells,which irrigate over 70 per cent of its irrigated area,to save its standing kharif crop at heavy cost of both power and diesel.

As a result,the sowing of paddy in the state this monsoon was almost at the same levels as that of last year’s, about 27 lakh hectares. Incidentally,this is 36 per cent below Punjab’s normal paddy output. In contrast,in other rice-producing states like Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,West Bengal,Andhra Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand,paddy sowing suffered substantially,leading to a shortfall of about 60 lakh hectares overall in the country as compared to last year.

“Since there has been less rainfall this year,we had to use groundwater and water from reservoirs to save our kharif crop. We keep a tab on groundwater levels and we have found that the levels in about a dozen districts in central Punjab have gone down,” Director of Agriculture in Punjab B S Sidhu told The Indian Express over phone from Chandigarh,confirming substantial decline in water levels in the state.

The low water levels in reservoirs in the north,which feed Punjab’s canal network and irrigate about 30 per cent of its irrigated area,are adding to the problem.

According to the Central Water Commission (CWC),which monitors reservoirs across the country,the situation looks grim for Punjab as of now. Out of the six reservoirs in the north — Bhakra,Pong,Thein,Mahi Bajaj Sagar,Rana Pratap Sagar and Jhakam — which feed water to Himachal,Punjab and Rajasthan,only one reservoir is filled to 66 per cent of its capacity. Two reservoirs are just over the 50 per cent level,two over 40 per cent and one is below 40 per cent of its full capacity. The CWC data reveals that overall storage in the region is less than normal in all three states — in Himachal by 30 per cent,in Punjab by 55 per cent,in Rajasthan by 19 per cent.