An approach to the revival of derelict water resources of Bolpur Sub-division: geonomic planning

摘要

In India rainwater harvesting programmes have developed over centuries in an ecologically sound manner. Rain was considered as the main source of water. Once captured, this rainfall met the demands for the rest of the year. In order to conserve the precious rainwater one of the regular traditional systems of rural India was the construction of tank. But currendy this simple technology of using rainwater has declined and in its place exploitation of rivers and ground water through dams and tube-wells has become the key source of water. The Government has been constantly encouraging exploitation of groundwater but has done little to recharge it. As a result the groundwater tables are falling all over the country. In this situation proper planning for the optimum utilisation of the surface water resources it is viable for controlling the rapid draining out of water to augment recharge into pheratic aquifers. So one of the effective strategies of combating rural water scarcity is the renovation of the existing derelict tanks. The traditional rural tanks, the major sources of irrigation prior to the commencing of the canals, are now gradually becoming derelict, because of silting and poor maintenances. It is obvious that efforts must be made to restore these structures to their full potential. In this programme community based rainwater harvesting has as much strengths today as it ever did before. With the above idea in mind the study has been done on the irrigation pattern of Bolpur sub-division of Birbhum district of West Bengal. Birbhum is marked as one of the drought prone districts of West Bengal where argiculture is the mainstay of the economy. So in this paper a project plan for the revival of the rural water sources has been discussed which may be taken as the model plan of South Rural Bengal. The studied sub-division is Bolpur comprising Illambazar,. Bolpur, Labhpur and Nanoor Police Station.