2 years of NDA: Water resources ministry in a dry spell?

Deepak Kumarmoneycontrol.comFor a ministry whose work revolves around water, a drought of the kind that has plagued India these last two years was just unfortunate. The ministry, recognising the need to act fast, focussed on two key thrust areas: to complete pending irrigation projects and enrich ground-water resources.

Under the ministry’s Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme, 297 projects have been taken up so far. The programme’s aim is to give Central government loans to states to help them complete irrigation projects hanging fire. About 143 projects across India have been completed. The rest of the projects are likely to get done by the end of 2020.

The project to recharge ground water resources, which account for 85 percent of our drinking water needs, got a boost this year with the ministry committing to spend Rs 6,000 crore on it. But the finishing line for the National Groundwater Management Improvement Project isn’t until six years from now.

The government has constructed about 62 wells in places where arsenic content is higher as part of its efforts to tap aquifers. About 147 wells are waiting to be built.

The mission to clean the Ganga or the Namami Gange Programme, has received a budget of Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years. This is a four-fold jump over funds allocated to tidy up the river in the last 30 years.

The ministry’s promise that by July 2018 there will be a clean Ganga will have to be seen in the light of how previous efforts have failed. The ministry itself has admitted that lack of co-ordination among ‘stakeholders’  has been the major hurdle. Now, it has invited private bidders to partner the government in cleaning up the river.

The river-linking project, conceived in 1982 as a way to connect the major rivers in India to form a water grid, saw its first success in Andhra Pradesh. Waters from Godavari flowed into Krishna, forming a chain-link last September. But this ambitious, over Rs 11 lakh crore project, has got a lot of ground to cover.

Positives

Under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme, 143 projects completed so far.

62 wells constructed in places to tap acquifers.

Rivers Godavari and Krishna connected.

Negatives

Increased allocation of funds for major projects are yet to be completed fully.

Previous efforts at cleaning up the Ganga cast a shadow over ministry’s increased focus on the project.