Govt advances deadline for irrigation projects

The government has decided to advance by nearly six months the deadline for completion of work on 99 projects under a central irrigation scheme.
Official sources said today that the projects under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana-Accelerate Irrigation Benefit Programme were to be completed in a phased manner over a period of three fiscals beginning 2016-17.
The Union water resources ministry has now asked officials attached to the projects to complete the work on these projects by October, 2018, apparently in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"The message was conveyed to the officials during a meeting chaired by Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti earlier this week," one of the sources said.

The projects are envisaged to irrigate 76 lakh hectares and are estimated to cost Rs 77,595 crore.
The sources said the ministry has also asked the engineers concerned to explore and work on channelising tourism potential of the areas surrounding the projects to generate employment opportunities for locals.

Apart from this, the ministry has told the officials to figure out if pipelines can be laid underground to transfer water in view of difficulties faced in acquiring land for construction of canals/surface irrigation.
During the nearly six-hour meeting, Bharti is also learnt to have instructed Central Water Commission (CWC) officials to make field visits and communicate with locals to get first hand information in cases of opposition to land acquisition for the projects.

The government had last year identified and decided to fast-track the projects in parts of the country in association with the respective state governments.
According to the original plan, 23 of the projects were to be completed by 2016-17. Majority of the projects have been completed or are nearing completion, the sources said.
The second batch of 31 projects were to be completed by 2017-18 and the remaining 45 by 2018-19.