To supply irrigation waters to rain shadow areas on war footing, the Andhra Pradesh government has conducted a baseline study to identify the water sources available for irrigation.
A detailed study undertaken by the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) was submitted recently to the state government, official sources said. The study has identified about 64,000 minor irrigation tanks across the state, each having an ayacut of about 100 acre and above. ??If all these tanks are restored and put to use, about 65-70 lakh acre can be brought additionally under assured irrigation system,?? officials said.
The panchayati raj department, which is managing the irrigation tanks, does not have enough funds to carry out the annual maintenance of tanks. The government now plans to hand these tanks over to the minor irrigation department, said sources. While these tanks are spread across 22 districts, a majority of them are in the drought-prone districts like Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Chittoor, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar, Nalgonda.
Officials said the minor and lift irrigation projects have the potential to irrigate about 53.45 lakh acre, while only about 20 lakh acre are being irrigated under minor irrigation projects. The state government has fixed a target to create an ayacut of about 4.45 lakh acre during 2008-09 and stabilise about 12 lakh acre under minor irrigation projects.
While reviewing the progress of minor irrigation projects, chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy had asked the officials to involve the stakeholders (farmers) in maintaining the irrigation tanks and minor irrigations projects. ??Community participation will play a key role for greater viability of these irrigation tanks. They must be involved in the monitoring and evaluation process more often,?? Reddy said.
Recognising the importance of minor irrigation, the government has decided to double its budget to Rs 880 crore for the year 2008-09, besides augmenting finances from various international funding agencies, including World Bank, worth Rs 1,044 crore.
The government has funded Rs 65.97 crore to repair 3,363 irrigation tanks and is undertaking the revival of 14,209 tanks with an investment of Rs 1,347 crore under the ?Indiramma Cheruvu? scheme. Under the same scheme, another 12,447 irrigation tanks will be restored with an estimated cost of Rs 907.92 crore during 2008-09, officials disclosed. The scheme will also be extend to 2009-10, with an estimated cost of about Rs 1,000 crore to undertake restoration of another 12,000 tanks, sources added.