CHANDIGARH: Punjab Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal today said that the state has registered a significant turnaround in its groundwater situation, with the latest 2026 assessment of the Central Ground Water Board showing, for the first time in decades, an improvement in groundwater levels.
Addressing a press conference at Punjab Bhawan on Monday, Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal, “The latest assessment of the Central Ground Water Board provides an important validation of the sustained efforts of the Punjab Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to conserve groundwater by taking canal water directly to agricultural fields.”
He said Punjab has 153 groundwater assessment blocks categorised as Safe, Semi-Critical, Critical and Over-Exploited. “The latest assessment shows that several blocks that had earlier fallen in the Over-Exploited and Critical categories have improved and moved into better categories,” he added.
Of these 95 blocks, three have recorded more than 30% improvement, seven have shown improvement between 20% and 30%, 23 have improved between 10% and 20%, while 62 have registered improvement between 0% and 10%.
Water Resources Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal said canal water utilisation, which was only around 26% till 2022, has now increased to 82%. “To achieve this transformation, the Punjab Government has invested around ₹7,500 crore and constructed and strengthened thousands of kilometres of watercourses and other irrigation infrastructure,” he added.
