Food security: CM orders plan to increase cultivable comand area

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Tuesday directed the Irrigation Department to prepare a plan for increasing the cultivable command area across the province to ensure food security.

He said that expanding the command area was essential for ensuring food security, which remained a top priority of the provincial government.

Chairing a meeting of the Irrigation Department at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Peshawar, he instructed the introduction of a modern asset management system, as well as GIS mapping of the canal network and the preparation of a fully digital record.

He ordered the digitisation of all departmental functions, including abiana (water rate) collections, noting that digitisation would enhance transparency and performance.

The chief minister ordered the formulation of a flood contingency plan and directed that coordinates and video evidence be prepared for the cleaning and maintenance of canals.

Afridi instructed the filling of vacant posts in the Irrigation Department and called for an end to the “on-pay scale” culture,

emphasising that the required human resources should be recruited without delay.

He directed that all under construction small dams be completed within stipulated timelines, stating that the construction of new dams was vital to meet the needs of growing population. He also issued directives to expedite measures for providing tourism facilities near dams.

The meeting was briefed on the responsibilities of the Irrigation Department and its subsidiary bodies, ongoing development projects, administrative matters, legal framework, irrigation infrastructure, and budgetary issues.

Participants were informed that more than 2.412 million acres of land in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was currently cultivable. Regarding small dams, it was briefed that over 321,000 acres have been made cultivable through small dams constructed in various districts of the province, while 24 more small dams were under construction which, upon completion, would bring an additional 61,000 acres of land under cultivation. Minister for Irrigation Riaz Khan and other officials attended the meeting.