Operational ranking of subsurface drainage projects in Haryana and suitable interventions for improving project operational performance

Abstract

Salinization of irrigated lands is threatening some of the most productive lands of irrigation projects in the country and is adversely affecting crop productivity, sustainability of irrigated agriculture and national food security. Saline soils characterized by high concentration of soluble neutral salts in the root zone and both waterlogged and non-waterlogged saline soils are spread across 16 states in the country. In India, sub-surface pipe drainage (SSD) technology was standardized and successfully up-scaled through mechanized mode since 1990s for large scale reclamation of waterlogged saline lands for enhancing crop productivity in different climates, soil textures and socio-economic conditions. In Haryana state, seventeen SSD projects covering 11,039 ha area have been installed up to March 2020 for reclaiming waterlogged saline soils. Although annual targets of project implementation were almost achieved, these projects were not made fully functional due to delay in delivery of pump sets and fuels, construction of pump houses, etc. Therefore, some of these projects were underperforming leading to poor farmers’ satisfaction. In this study, twelve SSD projects covering 8,178 ha waterlogged saline lands in eight districts of Haryana were selected to assess the project operational performance and ranking for suggesting interventions to improve the system performance. The results revealed that delivery of 75% pump sets, construction of 47% pump houses and transfer of 48% drainage blocks were only achieved. The ranking analysis further indicated that Sonipat-I SSD project was the best performing with the first rank while Charkhi Dadri project is the poor performing with 12th rank. The study suggests suitable interventions for improving the project performance