Karnataka - Bellary   

`Avoid delays in irrigation projects'

Staff Correspondent

BELLARY: Venkataiah, Secretary, Department of Water Resources (Minor Irrigation), urged engineers to avoid unnecessary delays and lay more emphasis on the expeditious implementation of irrigation projects. He was speaking after inaugurating a capacity building workshop for engineers of the minor irrigation department here on Friday. The workshop was organised by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to sensitise officials about various aspects of minor irrigation projects financed by NABARD under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

300 schemes

Mr. Venkataiah said that NABARD has earmarked around Rs. 600 crores under the fund in Karnataka. Of this, Rs. 175 crores has been set aside for implementing 300 minor irrigation projects. Urging engineers to prepare project estimates and complete all formalities on time, Mr. Venkatiah said that the projects should be completed as soon as possible.

B.H. Mohanty, Chief General Manager, NABARD (Karnataka), said that the State Government had implemented 13,295 projects comprising 708 irrigation projects, 1,286 groundwater recharge schemes, 4,098 roads and bridges, 15 godowns, 222 rural markets, 3,777 primary schools, 1,411 secondary schools, 1,667 anganwadi buildings, 94 primary health centres, 13 watershed projects and four fish jetty projects under the development fund. Of these, 4,204 projects have been completed and Rs. 1,549.45 crores has been disbursed.

Sectors

Mr. Mohanty said that the assistance under RIDF XI is available for a wide range of schemes covering agriculture development, rural connectivity and social sectors including soil conservation, flood protection works, watershed development, reclamation of water-logged areas, forest development, plantation and horticulture, rural godowns, rural markets, testing and certifying labs, fish jetties, mini hydro projects, village knowledge centres, pay and use toilets, plants, primary and secondary schools, and infrastructure for information technology in rural areas.

NABARD's funding to rural infrastructure projects has resulted in a large range of benefits such as assured fund flow, rationalisation and streamlining of the tendering procedure, and spreading the concept of participatory approach through formation of water users' associations, he said.

He said that studies conducted by NABARD to assess the impact of RIDF projects have revealed that the infrastructure created resulted in increased agricultural production.

K.R. Rao, General Manager, NABARD; N.S. Srinivasan, former Deputy General Manager; K.T. Srinivasulu, Consultant, RIDF; Yogita Khandge, Manager NABARD; C.N. Babu, Chief Engineer (retd.), spoke.

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`Avoid delays in irrigation projects'

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