The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Now, a water regulatory commission for State

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Now, a water regulatory commission for State

Special Correspondent

The Commission will be a recommendatory body
Water under lift schemes only through sprinklers, drip systems

HYDERABAD: An AP Water Resources Regulatory Commission (APWRRC) will be set up in the State soon to advise the government on how to promote optimum utilisation of available water for crops and other purposes and avoid wastage.

A Bill will be introduced to establish the commission during the budget session of the Assembly. This will be the second regulatory commission in the State, the first being AP Electricity Regulatory Commission which is currently fixing the tariff for power consumers and overseeing the operations of AP Genco, AP Transco and distribution companies.

The decision to set up a water regulatory body comes amid fears being expressed by several quarters that the water supplied through projects to the fields will be metered hereafter and tariff collected accordingly. Announcing the decision here on Thursday, Major Irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah, however, affirmed that the tariff collected on supply of water to fields would not be increased for the next five years. Instead, the government would release maintenance grants towards projects, canals and distributaries. Answering a barrage of questions, the Minister made it clear that the APWRRC was being established only “to ensure water justice” to all individual land holdings, especially those at the tail-ends. It would be an independent and recommendatory body. He said water would be provided to crops under lift irrigation projects only through sprinklers and drips hereafter so that 1 tmcft (thousand million cubic ft) would cover15,000 acres. Purchase of equipment , would be subsidised with Japanese funds.

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