Bhubaneswar: In order to improve water security in the State, Union Government has extended Central Assistance to the tune of Rs.1500 Crore so far in various Programs.
Latest Report on Central Assistance for Water Resources Programs reveals that Rs.1501.26 Crore has been extended out of which major support has been extended in Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program (AIBP).
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched during 2015-16 by the Central Government with an overarching vision to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation for all agricultural farms in the country and to produce ‘per drop more crop’ with the following components.
Programs under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program (AIBP), Command Area Development & Water Management (CADWM), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI) / Repair, Renovation & Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies and Ground Water Irrigation in Ministry of Water Resources.
Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Out of Eight Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) projects in Odisha, five projects namely, Upper Indravati, Rukura, Ret, Telangiri and Lower Indra are reported to be completed while Subarnarekha, Integrated Anandpur Barrage and Kanupur projects are in progress.
Central Assistance of Rs. 1208.86 crore has been released during April, 2016 to March, 2022 and total Irrigation Potential created upto March, 2022 is 249.53 Thousand Hectare for eight AIBP projects in Odisha.
Under PMKSY- Command Area Development and Water Management (CAD&WM), Central Assistance of Rs. 131.96 crore has been released upto March, 2022.
Two Clusters of 863 RRR schemes in Odisha were included for the release of Central Assistance. Under these two clusters of RRR schemes, total Central Assistance of Rs. 145.19 crore has been released upto March, 2022.
During XI Plan, Government of India had launched Flood Management Program (FMP) for providing Central Assistance to States for works related to river management, anti-erosion, restoration of damage flood management works, anti-sea erosion etc. with an outlay of Rs. 8,000 crore.
There were 68 projects earlier included for Central Assistance in the State of Odisha during XI & XII Plan period and till date, Central Assistance of Rs. 119.41 crore has been released to the State of Odisha under Flood Management Program. The 66 projects completed under this program and given protection to an area of around 1,93,749 Hectare and protected a population of about 11,54,300.
Odisha was one of the participating States under World Bank assisted Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), which was implemented during April, 2012 to March, 2021. The rehabilitation of 26 dams has been completed at the cost of Rs 336 crore under DRIP Phase-I. Odisha is also participating in DRIP (Phase- II & III) with the budget outlay of Rs. 804.00 crore for rehabilitation provision of 36 dams as per the approved Cabinet Note for the Scheme.
Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing National Aquifer Mapping and Management Program taken up in XII Plan period, an area of 1,20,599 sq. km has been identified for aquifer mapping, out of which 92,562 Sq. km covering 245 blocks in 25 districts of Odisha has already been covered.
To control salinity ingress in the creeks and to artificially recharge ground water, pilot projects on “Arresting Salinity Ingress and Artificial Recharge to Ground Water” have been taken up by CGWB in creeks and sub-creeks in the coastal tracts of Bhadrak, Puri and Kendrapara districts of Odisha. National Hydrology Project (NHP), with support from the World Bank envisages establishing a system for timely and reliable water resources data acquisition, storage, collation and management across all States & UTs in India. NHP is being implemented through Department of Water Resources with an overall provision of Rs.91.15 crore for the entire duration of NHP. Grants of Rs.15.25 crore released to the state of Odisha.