Raipur: The fast pace of ground water depletion issue has been raised in the Chhattisgarh Assembly. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior MLA Dharamjeet Singh raised the issue of depletion of ground water level in rivers in the state through a call attention motion in the House on the 17th day of the budget session of Chhattisgarh legislative assembly, on Friday.

BJP MLA Dharamjeet Singh said that a dry like situation had erupted in the month of March this year due to alarming level of ground water depletion in water bodies including rivers like Sheonath because of it. He said a water crisis like situation is erupting in the state and needed immediate intervention from the state government. The BJP MLA said that availability of surface water is 4,17,200 lakh cubic metre while availability of ground water level is 1,45,480 lakh cubic metre. Ground water level is depleting day-by-day in the state, he complained.

The raised issue has been answered in the house by Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao. The Minister said that availability of surface water is 48,296 cubic metres and availability of ground water is 62,844 cubic metre.

Under the catch the rain ( rain water harvesting) programme of Jal Shakti Abhiyan, rain water harvesting work is underway in the state. 68,685 works have been done under water conservation and rain water harvesting programmes. 32,355 ponds have been renovated. 15,407 works have been completed for filling water. 38,149 works have been done under the watershed. 16,59,217 works have been completed for nursery and plantation, he added.

Assembly Speaker Dr Raman Singh, who was in the chair, directed Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai to hold a high level meeting with the senior officers within a week to meet the challenges of water crisis in the summer. The Assembly Speaker asked the Chief Minister to direct the Collectors of the state to hold meetings with local representatives and chalk out a working plan for addressing the water crisis in the summer.

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai assured the Assembly Speaker to hold the meeting with senior officers and direct the collectors in this matter.