More than half of the irrigation projects that are to be taken up in the current 12th Five-Year Plan are a spillover from the 11th Plan. Huge time and cost overruns are the major cause of concern in the creation of major and minor irrigation projects in the country, a Planning Commission working group on the 12th Plan has stated in its report.
Out of the 583 irrigation projects, including creation of small and medium facilities, and extension, renovation and modernisation (ERM) of the existing ones, that will be taken up during the 12th Plan period (2012-17), 327 are carry-overs from the 11th Plan, says the plan panel report.
?From the present physical and financial status, it is expected that the 327 ongoing projects, including 154 major, 139 medium and 34 ERM projects will require financial inputs in the 12th Plan for their implementation,? the working group noted.
The panel?s report assumes even greater significance as Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had recently termed the cost overrun in irrigation projects ?incomprehensible? after state irrigation minister Ajit Pawar tendered his resignation from the cabinet over alleged irregularities.
While major irrigation projects normally have a gestation period of 15-20 years, medium projects take 5-10 years for completion. Against these standards, a large number of major as well as medium projects are continuing for 30 ? 40 years, the working group observed in its report.
It also said that an outlay of Rs 3.4 lakh crore had been recommended for creating major and minor irrigation units during the 12th Plan period over, ?the bulk of investments proposed are for completing the onging projects?.
During the 11th Plan, the total outlay for the irrigation projects was Rs 2.17 lakh crore, which included a Rs 72,500-crore assistance under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).
?Delays in the construction of railway and highway crossings, land acquisition, improper synchronisation of project components and delayed tendering and contract management lead to projects not getting completed. This further leads to time and cost overruns,? the report states as reasons for the delay in project creation.
?It does not get the desired results because of the nature and manner in which public expenditure is poured in agriculture. Almost 80% of the public expenditure going into agriculture is in the form of input subsidies (fertiliser, power, irrigation) and only 20% as investments in agriculture,? Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices chairman Ashok Gulati said.
The 12th Plan has also set a target for improving the efficiency of the irrigation projects, which is currently at 30%, by at least 20%.
An estimated 46.24 million hectare of irrigation potential was created till the end of the 10th Plan since the launch of the Five Year Plan in 1950s.