Gujarat government will put Geomembrane in farm ponds to store water, what is the reality?

Dilip Patel

Gandhinagar, 4 June 2023

Gujarat’s Narmada, Water Resources and Water Supply Department has come up with a plan to store the water wasted in the monsoon. Plastic- Polythene will be provided free of cost by the government. How many farmers will be given, it has not been announced. It has not been disclosed how much it will cost.

Geomembranes are to be provided for construction of farm ponds in water scarcity areas of 10 districts. This farm is situated at the bottom of the lake. That’s why water doesn’t go under the ground. By laying the geomembrane, a structure like a water tank is formed. Irrigation can be done by rain water harvesting during monsoon. The water is stored and farmers’ crops can be irrigated.

Corrupt history

Thousands of check dams, 1,25,549 gunny bags, 2,61,988 farm ponds and seam ponds were constructed in 2016. It is estimated that 50 lakh farms will be irrigated by making farm ponds in 28 consecutive years from 1995 to 2023 by the BJP governments. That is, all the farmers of Gujarat have got ponds built in their fields. If we look at the Congress government, two fields have become ponds in one field. But the pond is not visible anywhere. Water can be saved if a geomembrane is applied over it, but all these farm ponds do not exist. Now a new plan is being drawn up.

50 percent farmer will not benefit

There are 58 lakh farmers in Gujarat. There are 25 lakh farmers who have less than one hectare of land. Which are 50 percent farmers. In which only 10 percent of the fields are irrigated. That is, the big farmers have to know the benefit of geomembrane. Those who have both money and land to build a lake. Poor farmers will not get the benefit.

If there are 10 lakh farmers in 10 districts decided by the government, then they will not provide geomembrane to all the farmers. Barely 50 thousand or 1 lakh farmers can get the benefit. Farmers having more than one acre of land will also get its benefit. Out of this, 50 per cent and 40 per cent money is going towards corruption in the commission.

Legislative campaign

The government had announced to give geomembrane 21 days back. Geomembrane has been announced once again. Praveen Mali, MLA, Deesa, Banaskantha made a presentation. Plastic will be given free of cost for agricultural irrigation in 10 districts including the government. Many farmers including Disha MLA started water harvesting campaign. They are using water for irrigation by collecting every drop of water.

 

Will give 2460 sq.mtrs

A slope of 1.5.1 is required at the top of the pond with a maximum width of 40×40 m and a maximum depth of 6 m. Geomembrane will be installed in a maximum of 2460 square meters. If the area is more then the expenditure will be taken from the farmers.

500 gsm plastic will be provided to make farm pond 120 feet long, 120 feet wide and 22 meters deep.

Irrigation in 12 bighas

Farmers can cultivate 12 to 15 bighas of land in winter and eight to ten bighas of land in summer with the water stored in the farm pond. Anada Jat, a farmer of Banaskantha district, for the first time built a pond in his field at his own expense. Sufficient water is available for agricultural irrigation from the water of that farm pond throughout the year.

Reimbursement of expenses

By spending 15 lakhs, 1500 to 2 thousand kg of millet per hectare can be produced from this water. Farming will be done in 2 hectares from this lake. In which 3 to 4 thousand kg millet can be produced. Millet worth 1 lakh can be produced. Two such crops can be taken in a year. 4 thousand kg of wheat can be produced in one hectare. 2500 kg groundnut, 2100 kg castor, 800 kg sesame, 630 kg cotton, 32 thousand kg potato can be grown in one hectare.

Expenditure

Irrigation Department will appoint a contractor for installation of geomembrane. Geomembrane sheets will be made available through lease holders in the finished farm shed.

If a 110-110 feet and 34 feet deep pond is to be made in ten and a half bighas of land, then it costs Rs 15 lakh in one and a half bighas of land. Water proofing takes about 4 months. The government can provide plastic worth about 2 lakhs.

COST

40FT X 40FT 150 GSM Blue Pond Liner Tarpaulin – The cost of Tarpaulin is Rs.8740. While the price of 40FT X 60FT 200 GSM Blue Pond Liner Tarpaulin – Tarpaulin Keep It Fresh LLP is around Rs.18,399. In such a situation, if the government gives 40×40 meters to the company with fittings, then it can be around 2 lakhs.

One cubic foot can hold 7.48 gallons of water. One gallon means 3.785 liters of water. 28 liters can be approx. Ground water consumption can be reduced.

10 district

In areas of water scarcity, geomembranes are provided by the government in farm ponds dug by farmers at their own expense. It is levied on government expenditure. 10 districts including Banaskantha, Mehsana, Patan, Kutch, Rajkot, Botad, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Narmada and Dang have been covered. Must apply online. Online draw will be done. Selected farmers will be screened on the spot.

Environmental geomembrane

An environmental geomembrane should be used by the government but is not used.

Environmental geomembrane is a kind of HDPE geomembrane, mainly made of opaque and translucent thermoplastic resin material – polyethylene resin. Geomembrane is a high molecular polymer, non-toxic and odorless white particle. Its melting point is about 110-130℃, and its relative density is 0.918-0.965. have heat resistance and cold resistance , Chemical stability, toughness, good resistance to environmental stress cracking. Can resist heat, stress, acid, alkali, organic solvents and other corrosion. Environmental Geomembrane to be used by the Government of Gujarat. Does not produce any harmful material.

Use of geomembrane

Water conservancy, agriculture, reservoir, irrigation system, reservoir tank, drinking water pond, aquaculture, shrimp pond lining, fish pond, slope protection, garden, pond, artificial pond, golf course,

Used in industries

Geomembrane can be used in salt industry, sanitation, environmental protection, toxic waste, hazardous material, treatment plant, sewage treatment landfill, buildings, hazardous goods warehouse, waste incineration etc.

Petrochemical industry, sedimentation tank lining, gas station storage tank anti-seepage, oil refinery, secondary lining, chemical reaction tank, chemical plant, bulk environmental protection geomembrane, mining industry, heap leach tank, washing tank, discharge tank, ash yard, storage Used in yards, sedimentation tanks, tailings ponds.

Geomembranes are used in chemical stabilization, sewage treatment, chemical reaction tanks, and landfills. Asphalt, oil and tar, acid, alkali, salt and more than 80 kinds of strong acid and alkali chemical resistance.

Used for reinforcing vertical core wall of municipal engineering, roofing, H tank, building, metro underground engineering, sewer pipe lining, roof garden seepage prevention, plugging, anti-seepage, channel anti-seepage, environmental protection.

More report

https://allgujaratnews.in/en/big-scandal-of-employment-in-gujarat/ 

What happened before

In 2016, thousands of check dams, 1,25,549 bore dams, 2,61,988 farm ponds – seam ponds were built. Out of 1.25 lakh bori dams, not a single one survived. Due to these works, the farm pond bills have been cut. The officials of the Land Development Corporation used to take 20 to 40 percent commission for approving the grant for the lake. From 2013-14, the Gujarat Village Industries Market Corporation (GRIMCO) provided equipment worth Rs 700 crore over 7 years, most of which were found to be seriously defective.

A month-long water harvesting campaign was carried out from 1 May 2018 on ‘Gujarat Foundation Day’ to deepen 13,000 lakes and rivers in Gujarat. This was done for 5 years. Former chief minister Vijay Rupani had done this in entire Gujarat. If there was water in all the lakes, there would have been no shortage of water in Gujarat today and there would have been no need to make a new scheme for farm ponds.

Rupani government dug 1 lakh farm ponds in 100 days. One crore cubic meters of water was stored. 6 thousand crores were spent on Sujalam Suflam in just one and a half years.

10,000 villages were to get direct benefits. 5 thousand village lakes were filled with the water of Narmada.

In 2018, soil was extracted from 14,000 lakes. 14 thousand cubic feet of soil was excavated. In the 28 years of BJP from 1995 to 2023, government statistics have proved that almost all village ponds and all farms have become agricultural ponds. In the earlier Congress period also, every farm used to spend on building a farm pond.

Thus the farm ponds have doubled in the fields of all the farmers of Gujarat. Now again a new plan has come to keep plastic. Whichever plan should be made by taking 40% commission, it must have already been decided.

That is why the Gujarat government has not counted the farms census since 2015-16. Agriculture Census or Input Survey has not been released since 7 years. If this continues, then the 28 years of BJP’s rule can be exposed.