Govt eyes Nabard funds to complete pending irrigation projects

Government is looking at a funding mechanism through development bank Nabard for the completion of 99 irrigation projects under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
A committee under the chairmanship of Chhattisgarh minister Brij Mohan Agrawal has identified 99 pending major and medium projects spread across 18 states for completion by December 2019 on a priority basis under the PMKSY.
"For completion of these projects in a mission mode, innovative funding mechanism through Nabard (National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development) is envisaged," Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The committee, which was constituted to look into the issue related to implementation of PMKSY, has not given any in-principal approval to include major and medium irrigation projects under the scheme, he added.
To another query, Rupala said that the pace of implementation of 'Per Drop More Crop' component of PMKSY is "slow in the states covered under Green Revolution namely Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc."
He further said micro-irrigation scheme has proven successful in enhancing water use efficiency in the range of 50-90 per cent, savings of energy consumption by approximately 31 per cent, savings of fertilisers consumption by about 29 per cent and increase in productivity in the range of 42 to 52 per cent.