By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 30, 2016 : Odisha will make a special allocation for Pani Panchayat in the budget for the 2016-17 fiscal.

“Pani Panchayat is a very important programme for empowerment of our farmers. It has been working successfully. We will further strengthen it through expansion of activity and capacity building of our farmers,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said at the concluding ceremony of the Pani Panchayat fortnight at the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology ( OUAT) premises here.

The chief minister claimed that the Pani Panchayat scheme played an important role in the empowerment of farmers ensuring higher productivity due to crop diversification with availability of water round the clock. The scheme, which was launched in 2002, has seen a sea change in water management in the state.

Reiterating that the state government had given more emphasis on agriculture, Patnaik said his government had made special budget provision for the development of the agriculture sector and implemented a number of schemes for the welfare of the farmers.

“For the development of agriculture and irrigation, the state government has increased the budget allocation to Rs 1000 crore and Rs 500 crore for Water Resources and Agriculture departments respectively,” he added.

He also informed that the state government had entrusted the management of minor irrigation systems to the farmers, which will continue in the coming days.
Urging the farmers to make the Pani Panchayat a successful scheme, the chief minister told them to work hard to further expand the network to make agriculture a profitable profession for them.