Haryana Approves ₹402.41 Crore Solar-Powered Micro Irrigation Projects

In a major push towards sustainable agriculture and scientific water management, Haryana’s State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) approved four Community-Based Solar-Powered Integrated Micro-Irrigation Projects. With a total investment of ₹402.41 crore, the Haryana government said in a press release that the project will be implemented across 61 canal outlets covering 20 blocks in the Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra and Mahendragarh districts.

This project is scheduled for completion between 2026–27 and 2028–29, and is estimated to bring 11,040 hectares of culturable command area under advanced micro-irrigation systems and directly benefit 8,926 farmers across 94 villages.

Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi approved the projects under the Micro Irrigation& Command Area Development Authority (MICADA). The district-wise allocation includes ₹95.78 crore for Bhiwani, ₹114.68 crore for Jhajjar, ₹77.17 crore for Kurukshetra and ₹114.78 crore for Mahendragarh.

The benefit-cost ratio ranges from 1.21:1 to 1.65:1, indicating strong economic viability and long-term returns for the farming community. By promoting drip and sprinkler systems within canal command areas, the projects aim to significantly improve water-use efficiency, reduce transmission losses and enhance crop productivity.

How Solar-Powered Systems Lower Operational Costs

Chairing the meeting, the Chief Secretary emphasised that integrated supply and demand management of water is essential to address climate variability and declining groundwater levels. 

The adoption of solar-powered systems will also lower operational costs and make irrigation environmentally sustainable. He further directed officers to visit the field and share best practices with farmers.

147 PV Micro-Irrigation Vendors Cleared for 2025–26 to 2029–30

The committee reviewed and approved a comprehensive reform agenda comprising 16 items pertaining to the registration of manufacturers and suppliers as per the PDMC Guidelines, 2025, aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability and farmer protection.

A total of 147 manufacturers and suppliers were found eligible for registration for the period 2025–26 to 2029–30 after rigorous scrutiny of 165 applications. Vendors agreed to align their rates with approved State and PDMC norms under the Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) programme, ensuring that farmers are protected from inflated pricing.

The scheme will continue under a beneficiary-driven Direct Benefit Transfer/Kind-through model, enabling farmers to select suppliers while subsidies are released within approved cost ceilings. To enhance transparency, the MICADA portal will be integrated with the GST portal for digital authentication of invoices, preventing fake or inflated billing. A component-wise bank guarantee mechanism has also been approved to ensure financial accountability of vendors, and GST has been included as part of the admissible subsidy as per norms.

Quality assurance mechanisms were further strengthened through State-level scrutiny of laboratory testing reports, strict penalty provisions for violations and independent monitoring of at least 20 per cent of projects annually. A cluster-based implementation strategy and a pilot Public-Private-CSR model were also discussed to expand coverage and ensure long-term maintenance support, particularly for Scheduled Caste, small and marginal farmers.

MICADA Implemented 99 NABARD-Funded Micro Irrigation Fund Schemes

Notably, between 2022–23 and 2024–25, MICADA successfully implemented 99 NABARD-funded Micro Irrigation Fund schemes across 18 districts at a cost of ₹563.43 crore, with auxiliary infrastructure fully completed and micro-irrigation systems installed over nearly 40% of the targeted area. The newly approved projects build upon this strong foundation and reaffirm Haryana’s commitment to climate-resilient, technology-driven and farmer-centric agricultural development.

Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Arun Kumar Gupta; Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation & Water Resources, Anurag Agarwal; Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Pankaj Agarwal; Director General, Agriculture, Rajnarayan Kaushik; Birender Singh; Administrator (MICADA), S.D. Sharma, Chief Engineer (MICADA), Dhoop Singh, Director (MI), MICADA, and other senior officers were present at the meeting.