Chandigarh, July 10: The decision of Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal to promote crop diversification and encouraging the farmers to shift from water-guzzling crops to water efficient crops today got a major boost when, the Punjab and Haryana High Court not only declined to grant interim relief in a writ petition filed against crop diversification scheme but also lauded the steps taken by Haryana Government for crop diversification.

In its judgment in the case which was taken up for hearing through video conferencing today, the High Court has also asked the State Government to ensure that all the water bodies in the State are revived, preserved, conserved and protected besides boosting the re-charge mechanism.

The Court held that according to available data, millions of cubic meters of groundwater is extracted annually for irrigation in India. There is over exploitation of ground water leading to grave threat to aquifers of Indo-Gangetic plains due to excessive/intensive pumping of water. There would be rapid diversification of fertile land leading to dust storms blowing away the topsoil. Moreover, the excessive exploitation of groundwater is a threat to the environment and ecology. We are extracting more water than is replenished, it asserted.

The Court appreciated the Haryana Government saying that the steps taken by the State Government are laudable for diversification of the crops. The aquifers are “over stressed/extremely stressed” and in case the remedial measures are not taken, it would lead to classification of certain over exploited blocks/zones as “dark zones”, the Court further observed.