Watershed development for ecological restoration in the state of Punjab: Implementation experiences, outcomes and lessons learnt

Abstract

The state of Punjab is divided into three agro-ecological regions namely the Shivalik foot hill region, central irrigated plains and southern region of brackish water. All the regions have different types of ecological problems but the deforestation, rampant soil erosion, damage to land and infrastructure, siltation of water bodies and loss of biodiversity in the Shivaliks received maximum attention even before and after independence. Several state, central and foreign funded projects operated in this region basically to reverse the trend of ecological degradation adopting cost effective watershed development approach. In case of the central irrigated plains, the dawn of green revolution revolutionized agriculture and soon became grain bowl of India. Unfortunately, green revolution was fatigued on its own turf with emergence of serious problem of groundwater depletion, excessive use of chemicals, and imbalance in fertilizer use, residue burning and soil health deterioration. In an attempt for ecological restoration, the National Watershed Development Project for Rain-fed Areas (NWDPRA) funded by the Govt. of India was implemented in the Shivaliks with small funds and coverage and ended with limited success. In the Kandi Watershed and Area Development Project (KWADP) funded by the World Bank, eleven medium height dams were constructed by the Irrigation and Drainage Department but rapid siltation problem emerged as catchment areas were not well treated. Major push to watershed development was given by the Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP) Hills funded by the World Banks and a total area of 180,100 ha was treated in 75 priority watersheds of four participating states up to March 1999. This was followed by IWDP Hills Phase II which operated till 2005 in five states with satisfactory results. Subsequently, focus was shifted to irrigated plains to stem the problem of groundwater depletion. As a follow up, the Govt. of India supported Integrated Watershed Management Program for almost ten years and then re-designated as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yogna (PMKSY) to improve water use efficiency, rejuvenation of water bodies and protective irrigation by rainwater harvesting. Taking a historical perspective, the work of British Forest Officers in the joint Punjab, establishment of agricultural research and development infrastructure, creation of independent department of soil and water conservation, major soil and water conservation activities initially started in foot hill area and resource conservation linked farm activities promoted in irrigated plains are described. The detailed description of state, central and foreign funded projects which changed development strategies in the Shivaliks have been presented. Subsequently, the scope of such projects was extended to plain areas to address the problem of groundwater depletion through the use of pond water after renovation and use of waste water after treatment for irrigation. There was no comprehensive document enlisting the implementation details of soil and water conservation/watershed development schemes and projects to address the problems of degradation and their consequences, analysis of success and failures and lessons learnt. Unfortunately, most of the valuable information was not placed in the public domain. It was intended that the valuable information on outcomes of millions of dollars spent is compiled at one place for the benefit and guidance of younger officers, field functionaries, students, fellow research workers, policy planners and other stakeholders.