Uttar Pradesh Khet Talab Yojana

What is Uttar Pradesh Khet Talab Yojana?

Uttar Pradesh Khet Talab Yojana is a scheme of the Department of Agriculture, Government of Uttar Pradesh, under which a farmer gets a government subsidy for digging a farm pond, a khet talab; on his own field. The pond stores monsoon runoff, and that stored water does two things at once: it gives the farmer a protective irrigation in a dry spell, and it lets water percolate back into the ground instead of running off the field.

The problem the scheme addresses is specific to large parts of Uttar Pradesh. Rainfall arrives in a short, intense monsoon and then stops. Fields that get plenty of water in August have nothing in October, exactly when a rabi crop is being established, and tubewell irrigation in those months is expensive and pulls down an already stressed water table. A pond on the farmer's own land converts water that would otherwise have run off into water available at the moment the crop actually needs it.

Uttar Pradesh Khet Talab Yojana is run through the state's land conservation (bhumi sanrakshan) machinery in each district and is administered online through the token booking system on agriculture.up.gov.in, the same platform the department uses for subsidised agricultural machinery.

What does a farmer actually get?

Uttar Pradesh Khet Talab Yojana provides a subsidy on the approved unit cost of constructing the pond. The department notifies pond specifications and the unit cost for each financial year, and publishes them on the booking portal along with the booking link.

Three features of the payment matter more than the headline figure:

• The subsidy is a reimbursement, not an advance. The farmer digs the pond first and claims afterwards. Anyone who cannot fund the excavation up front should not book a token expecting money to arrive before the work.
• Payment is by direct benefit transfer into the farmer's Aadhaar-seeded bank account. No cash, and nothing routed through a contractor.
• Payment follows verification. The portal has facilities for uploading bills and completion photographs, and district staff verify the dug pond on the ground before the claim is passed.

Because the unit cost and the subsidy share have both been revised over the life of the scheme, check the figure published on agriculture.up.gov.in for the current financial year rather than carrying forward a number from an older notification or a private website.

Who is eligible for Khet Talab Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are a farmer of Uttar Pradesh.
• You own the agricultural land on which the pond is to be dug, and your name appears on the khatauni for that plot.
• You are registered on the state agriculture portal with a farmer ID, which is the precondition for booking a token at all.
• The plot is suitable for a pond, the department assesses site conditions during verification, and low-lying land that naturally collects runoff is the obvious candidate.
• You hold an operative, Aadhaar-seeded bank account in your own name to receive the DBT payment.
• You can fund the excavation up front and claim the subsidy afterwards.

You cannot apply, or will be found not eligible, if:

• You do not own the land on which the pond is proposed. A tenant farmer, sharecropper or agricultural labourer is not eligible, because the scheme funds a permanent excavation and the department checks the applicant's name against the khatauni for that specific plot.
• You are not registered on the state agriculture portal, since the token cannot be booked without a farmer registration.
• Your district's target for the year is already filled, booking is a token system and it closes when the district allocation is exhausted.
• You have already received a farm pond subsidy for the same plot under this or another government scheme. Duplicate benefit on the same land is not allowed.
• Your bank account is not Aadhaar-seeded, in which case the DBT payment file will fail even after your claim is approved.

What documents are required for Khet Talab Yojana?

Scan or photograph every document clearly before you begin. The token booking window closes when the district target is met, and a booking abandoned halfway because a document was not to hand is a booking lost.

How to apply for Khet Talab Yojana

1. Register as a farmer on the Uttar Pradesh agriculture portal at agriculture.up.gov.in if you have not already done so, and keep the farmer registration number.
2. Open the home page and find the notice reading "खेत तालाब की बुकिंग एवं डॉक्यूमेंट अपलोड यहाँ से करें" — the instruction to book a farm pond and upload documents, and follow the link to the token page at agriculture.up.gov.in/pmsytoken/token/mainpage.aspx.
3. Read the notice for the current financial year. The department publishes a separate booking link for each year, and the 2026-27 link is listed on that page.
4. Book your token with your farmer registration, district, block, village and the khasra number of the plot where the pond will be dug.
5. Upload the land record, Aadhaar, bank passbook page and the site photograph through the document upload facility on the same page.
6. Wait for the district agriculture office to sanction the work and to confirm the specification of the pond you may dig. Do not begin excavation before sanction, work done in advance is not reimbursed.
7. Dig the pond to the sanctioned specification, keeping every bill and voucher for the earthwork.
8. Upload the bills and the completion photograph using the portal's dedicated bill and completion-photo facility.
9. Allow the field verification. District staff inspect and measure the pond against the sanctioned specification.
10. Receive the subsidy by DBT into your Aadhaar-seeded bank account once the verification is passed.

How to apply with help, or offline

Farmers who cannot complete the online booking themselves should take their land record, Aadhaar and bank passbook to one of the following:

1. The block agriculture office (Rajkiya Krishi Beej Bhandar), where the Additional Agriculture Officer files the booking on the portal.
2. The district agriculture office / bhumi sanrakshan unit, which handles sanction, specification and field verification for farm ponds.
3. A Common Service Centre or Jan Suvidha Kendra, which can complete the portal booking for the government-notified service fee.

Watch the screen while the khasra number and the bank account are typed in. A mistyped khasra number sends a verification team to the wrong plot, and a mistyped account number fails the payment after all the work is done.

How do I check status and get paid?

Status for a farm pond booking is tracked through the token system on agriculture.up.gov.in using the booking or token number issued at the time of registration. The stages are booking, sanction, work, bill and photograph upload, field verification, and DBT payment, and the portal shows which of those the file has reached.

Where a claim shows as verified but no money has been credited, the problem is almost always at the bank end: an Aadhaar that is not seeded to the account, a dormant account, or a name mismatch. Check with the branch before escalating. If the account is in order and payment is still pending, use the Agriculture Department's DBT helpline 7839883124 or the email dbt.validation@gmail.com published on agriculture.up.gov.in.

Why Khet Talab claims get rejected

• Applicant is not the recorded owner of the plot in the khatauni.
• Excavation started before sanction, so the department cannot certify that the work matches an approved specification.
• Pond dug smaller than the sanctioned dimensions, which field measurement picks up immediately.
• Bills not uploaded, or uploaded without the completion photograph.
• Aadhaar not seeded with the bank account, so the DBT file fails.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank record and the land record.
• Token booked after the district target was exhausted.
• Subsidy already drawn on the same plot under another scheme.

Most of these are fixable and a corrected claim can be resubmitted within the same financial year. Starting work before sanction is the one mistake that usually cannot be repaired, so treat the sanction letter as the starting gun.

Help and grievance redressal

• Agriculture Department DBT helpline: 7839883124, with the email dbt.validation@gmail.com, both published on agriculture.up.gov.in.
• District Agriculture Officer / Bhumi Sanrakshan Adhikari for sanction, specification and verification questions.
• Jansunwai at jansunwai.up.nic.in for a written grievance against the Agriculture Department, quoting the token or booking number.

No fee is payable to the Agriculture Department for booking a farm pond token, and no official or agent can charge for "getting the subsidy released". The money moves only by DBT into the farmer's own account.