YEAR
END REVIEW 2008
M/o Water Resources
The
year 2008 witnessed several initiatives taken by the Ministry of Water Resources.
These include - declaration of 14 water resources projects as National
Projects; Creation of additional irrigation potential of 4.932 Mha
through major/medium irrigation projects; Exploration of high yielding aquifers
at 50 locations in the country; Approval of Artificial Recharge of Ground Water
Scheme at a total cost of Rs. 1798.71 crore; Expansion of Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR)
of Water bodies scheme throughout the country with external assistance; and the
Approval of Flood Management Programme (FMP) as a State
sector Scheme amounting to Rs. 8000 crore under Central Plan.
These
initiatives also include - Launching of a new restructured scheme namely ‘River
Management Activities and Work Related to Border Areas’ under Central sector;
Beginning of work for protection of Majuli river in
Assam; Approval of CADWM Programme
as State sector scheme for XIth Plan
with an outlay of Rs. 1600 crores;
Taking up work of preparation of DPR of two more river links ‘Par-Tapi-Narmada’ and ‘Daman-Ganga-Pinjal’;
and Improving bilateral relations with the neighbouring
countries on water resources related issues.
NATIONAL PROJECTS
The Central
Government has declared 14 water resources projects as National Projects subject
to working out the mode of financing in consultation with Ministry of Finance
and Planning Commission. For these projects,
it is proposed to provide 90 per cent project cost of irrigation and drinking
water component of the project as Central grant after techno-economic appraisal
of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and investment clearance by the Planning
Commission. The irrigation benefit from
theses projects is estimated to be about 21 lakh ha apart from additional indirect benefits and availability
of drinking water.
These National Projects are: Nao Dehang Dam Project and Upper
Siang Project (Arunachal Pradesh);
Kulsi Dam Project (Assam) ; Renuka Dam Project and Gyspa
Project (Himachal Pradesh) ;
Kishau Project (Himachal
Pradesh/Uttarakhand) ; Bursar Project and Ujh
Multipurpose Project (Jammu & Kashmir) ; Ken-Betwa
Project (Madhya Pradesh) ; Gosikhurd Project
(Maharashtra) ; Shahpur Kandi Project and 2nd. Ravi Vyas Link
(Punjab); Lakhvar
Vyasi Project (Uttarakhand) ; and Teesta Barraga Project (West Bengal).
ACCELERATED IRRIGATION BENEFITS PROGRAMME
(AIBP)
Since inception of AIBP in 1996-97
till December 15, 2008, the State Governments have been provided
an amount of Rs. 31202.5614 crores as CLA/Grant under AIBP for 257 major/medium irrigation
projects and 8999 surface minor irrigation schemes. So far, 100 major/medium and 5535 surface MI Schemes have been completed.
Upto March 2008, an additional irrigation potential
4.932 million ha has been created through major/medium irrigation projects and
an irrigation potential of 0.271 million ha. has been
created through Surface MI Schemes. During 2008-09, provision for Central Grant
of Rs. 4300 crore has been
kept in the Union Budget for providing grants to the States under AIBP.
As per the prevailing AIBP guidelines, projects benefiting drought prone/tribal
area projects included in the PM’s relief package for agrarian distress districts
of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala
and projects in the States having irrigation development below national average,
could be included in AIBP in relaxation to one to one criteria of inclusion of
new project under AIBP.
GROUND WATER DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT STUDIES
Central
Ground Water Board (CGWB) has explored high yielding aquifers at 50 locations
in the country under its ‘Scientific Exploratory Drilling Programme’ based on hydro-geological studies and utilizing
remote sensing and geo-physical techniques. These locations have been found as
follows: Andhra Pradesh (4 locations), Bihar (1 location), Jammu & Kashmir
(2 locations), Jharkahnd (1 location), Karnataka (12
locations), Kerala (8 locations), Madhya Pradesh (3
locations),Maharashtra(2 locations), Orissa (12 locations), Rajasthan (1 location), Tamil Nadu (3 locations) and Uttar Pradesh (1 location).
CGWB
issued 51 District Ground Water Brochures during the period (January-November
2008) on different themes like Ground Water Scenario for farmers in distress districts,
Coastal areas, arsenic affected areas, over-exploited areas etc. Under the auspices
of ‘Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training &
Research Institute’, a total of 19 Training courses dealing with various aspects
of ground water development, management, protection and regulation were organized
during the period.
ARTIFICIAL RE-CHARGE
OF GROUND WATER
The
scheme of “Artificial Recharge of Ground Water through Dug-wells in Hard Rock
Areas” has been launched in seven States namely Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The scheme has been approved for a total cost of Rs. 1798.71 crores with net cost
of subsidy to Government in terms of civil works of Rs.
1499.27 crores. The scheme provides 100% subsidy to
marginal and small farmers and 50% subsidy to other farmers.
The
main objective of the scheme is to adopt suitable measures for augmenting the
Ground Water Resources in over-exploited/critical/semi-critical areas in these
states to provide sustainability to the dug wells. The beneficiaries would be the farmers having
own well in their agricultural land. Average
cost of dug-well recharge is Rs. 4000/-, which varies
from Rs. 3600/- as in Maharashtra to Rs.
5700/- as in Andhra Pradesh.
COMMAND AREA DEVELOPMENT AND WATER MANAGEMENT (CADWM)
An amount of Rs. 3528.08
crore has been released to State Governments as Central
assistance since the inception of the CADWM Programme
in 1974 till March 2008. The actual expenditure
was Rs. 818.54 crore against
the approved outlay of Rs. 1208.00 crore for the Xth Five
Year Plan, on account of budgetary constraints of the State Governments in providing
matching share.
This programme has
been approved as a ‘State Sector Scheme for XIth
Five Year Plan (2008-09 to 2011-12)’ in October 2008 with an outlay of Rs. 1600 crore. The outlay for current financial year is Rs. 350 crores which is expected to
be fully utilized.
Till
the end of Xth Plan, 314 projects had been
taken up under the programme and a total Cultural Command
Area (CCA) of 28.95 Mha. have
been included under the programme. Out of which it is not feasible to carry out
the works in an area of 4.52 Mha, thus feasible CCA
under the programme is 24.43 Mha. At present 136 projects are under implementation.
FLOOD MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME (FMP)
Flood Management Programme
(FMP), a State sector scheme amounting to Rs. 8,000
crore under Central Plan during XI plan period has been approved.
It aims to provide central assistance to State Governments for river management,
flood control, anti-erosion works, anti-sea erosion works, drainage development, flood proofing, flood prone development
programme and restoration of damaged flood management
works etc. in the critical reaches which have secured all mandatory clearances.
The spilled over works of the Xth Plan schemes
have also been included under this scheme. Funding pattern under FMP for central assistance
is as under:
For special category
states:
90%(central) : 10% (State)
For other states:
75%(central) :
25% (State)
For
restoration of damaged flood -(all states)
Management works
90%(central) : 10% (State)
River Management Activities and Works
Related to Border Areas
A
restructured scheme namely ‘River Management Activities and Works Related to Border
Areas’ under Central sector with an estimated cost of Rs. 601 crore launched by amalgamating
ten continuing schemes for implementation during XIth Plan period. It covers the ongoing River Management activities
on common rivers with Nepal, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh besides new developmental works during
XIth Plan period.
Brahmaputra board
Brahmaputra Board has carried
out works for protection of Majuli river worth Rs. 14 crore during current year.
No major erosion on the southern boundary of Majuli
was noticed during the year after execution of these works. The anti-erosion work amounting to Rs. 4 crore have been carried out by Brahmaputra
Board on the bank of Puthimari river in Assam which has provided
the protection to the Nagrijuli tea estate from erosion.
REPAIR, RENOVATION
AND REHABILITATION(RRR)
OF WATER BODIES
The
project for Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water bodies is being expanded
throughout the country with external assistance. The World Bank Loan Agreement has been signed
with Tamil Nadu for Rs. 2182
crore to restore 5763 water bodies having a CCA of 4
lakh hectares, Andhra Pradesh for Rs. 835 crore for restoration of
3000 water bodies with a CCA of 2.5 lakh hectares and
Karanataka for Rs. 259 crore. The projects
in respect of Orissa for 900 water bodies at a cost
of Rs. 546 crore having a
CCA of 1.2 lakh ha has been negotiated with the World
Bank and is likely to be signed shortly. The
West Bengal
project with World Bank assistance is under appraisal by the Bank.
The
Scheme was approved for 26 district projects in 15 States at an estimated cost
of Rs. 299.92 crore
and Central Share of Rs. 197.30 crore
has been released to the states so far. These
projects cover 1098 water bodies with total original Culturable
Command Area (CCA) of 1.72 lakh hectares. After RRR works an additional irrigation potential
of 0.78 lakh hectare is likely to be generated. The
physical works for restoration have been completed in 926 water bodies in 14 states
so far.
INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS
The
States of Maharashtra and Gujarat have given their concurrence
on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for taking
up work of preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) of two more priority river
links namely ‘Par-Tapi-Narmada’ and ‘Daman-Ganga-Pinjal’.
The works of preparation of DPR of the Ken-Betwa
Link project is constantly under review and is likely to be finalized shortly.
The
24th Annual General meeting of National Water Development Agency (NWDA)
held in July 2008 reviewed
the progress of Interlinking of Rivers programme in
the presence of Water Resources ministers of many States.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
NEPAL: 3rd
meeting of India-Nepal Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) headed by Water
Resources Secretaries of India and Nepal was held in October 2008 at Kathmandu (Nepal).
It recommended a three tier bilateral
mechanism and decided to set up Pancheshwar Development
Authority (PDA) for the development, execution and operation of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project. It also decided to extend the tenure of JPO
set up in Nepal in August 2004 to take up field investigations
and preparation of Joint DPR of Sapta Kosi High Dam Multipurpose Project and Sun Kosi Storage cum Diversion Scheme to December 2009.
PAKISTAN: In respect of matters related to
Indus Waters Treaty, 1960, four tours of inspection of the Permanent Indus Commission,
were held this year. Three meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission were also
held. Daily flow data of 280 hydrological
sites of Indus basin rivers, were sent
every month and flood warning communication was also sent to Pakistan during the
period of 1st July to 10th October 2008.
CHINA:
A new MoU has been singed with China on 5th
June 2008 during
the visit of External Affairs Minister of India to Beijing from 4th –7th
June 2008.
It is upon provision of hydrological information of the Brahmaputra/Yaluzangbu
River in Flood Season by China to India with a validity of five years. In
pursuance, the Chinese side has started supplying the data w.e.f.
8th September 2008. The 2nd meeting of the
Expert Level mechanism (ELM) on Trans-border Rivers between India and China held at New Delhi in April 2008.
BHUTAN:
The 2nd
meeting of Joint Group of Experts (JGE) on Flood Management between India and Bhutan was held
at New Delhi in February
2008. Joint Group was constituted to discuss and assess the probable causes and
effects of the recurring floods and erosion in the southern foothills of Bhutan and adjoining
plains in India and recommend
to both Governments appropriate and mutually acceptable remedial measures.
BANGLADESH: Bilateral
meeting between India and Bangladesh held last year discussed all relevant
issues including sharing of river Teesta. In pursuance
of the decisions of this meeting, fist technical level meeting held at Dhaka in last year followed by second Meeting
at New Delhi in January 2008 to sort out the issues.
The Ganges waters signed by the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh
in 1996, the Ganges water is being shared at Farakka
during lean period from 1st January to 31st May every year
on 10-daily basis and is monitored by a Joint Committee The Joint Committee finalized
its Annual Report-2008 in its 40th meeting held at Kolkata
in October 2008.
RESEARCH SCHEMES AND STUDIES
A
number of research schemes and studies on various aspects of water resources including
those related to water use efficiency and study to find reasons for gap in irrigation
potential created and irrigation potential utilized are being implemented in the
various organizations / educational and research institutes of Central and State
Governments including NGOs with funding from the Ministry of Water Resources..
INFORMATION, EDUCATION
& COMMUNICATION (IEC) ACTIVITIES
The Ministry participated in the India International
Trade Fair (IITF) 2008 by raising a pavilion at Pragati
Maidan, New Delhi from 14th to 27th
November, 2008 to educate people and especially the children, on different aspects of
water resources, conservation and management.
Theme of the pavilion was “Water Conservation, Sustenance, Happiness and
Prosperity.”
The Ministry observed World Water Day
on 20th March 2008 in consonance with UN General Assembly
resolution. The Tableau of Ministry included
in the Republic Day Parade on the theme of “Water” received wide appreciation
for colourful and holistic display of various facets
of water. The Ministry has also placed an order with Department of Posts to print
and distribute six lakh Meghdoot Postcards on the theme of water. Vigorous campaign
launched through Electronic Media and All India Radio by airing video and audio
spots with message of water conservation to spread awareness.
E-GOVERNANCE APPLICATIONS
The Ministry is implementing the Information
Technology Strategic Plan with the view to strengthen the E-governance. The main
achievements of the plan include - A new web-enabled software “Hydrological Observation Information System
for Indus Basin” has been developed in ASP.NET and SQL Server to provide more flexibility
in compilation and trend analysis of Data & generation of report etc. ;
RTI-MIS is being operated
for redressal of grievances. List of Nodal Officers
have been fed in the RTI-MIS software.; The bilingual
website of the Ministry has been redesigned and is being regularly updated. (http://www.mowr.gov.in).
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SK/BS
(Release ID :46095)