Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Dec 31, 2002 |
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Agri-Biz & Commodities
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Water Orissa move to involve farmers in water resources management Ambar Singh Roy
BHUBANESWAR, Dec. 30 ALL irrigation projects in Orissa will be brought under the purview of the `Pani Panchayat' scheme within the next five years. The participatory irrigation management programme empowers farmers to take decisions pertaining to the distribution and management of water resources in irrigated farmlands. According to Mr Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Government of Orissa, there is a total of 5,566 registered `Pani Panchayats' (PPs) in the State, including 4,803 that are based on lift irrigation. Of the 5,566 PPs, operations and maintenance of 2,377 PPs have been handed over to the villagers. The total area covered in the process is 1.45 lakh hectare. Orissa has 65 lakh hectares of farmlands of which 18 lakh hectares of land is irrigated. Every year, an additional 50,000 hectares of land is brought under irrigation. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Patnaik said that initial findings suggested that the implementation of the PP scheme had facilitated a 20 per cent increase in the intensity of cropping. In floor irrigation, each PP covers about 500 people, while in the case of lift irrigation, 25 people come under the purview of each PP. On an average, each PP covers 500 hectares of land. Till now, floor irrigation projects were maintained by the department. On account of silting and other reasons, water that was released for irrigation purposes was unable to reach the tail-end at many places. To allay misgivings of any kind, it was decided to involve the farmers so that they could have a say in the management of water resources. According to him, besides facilitating community involvement and ensuring democratic decision-making with regard to the management of water resources, the PP scheme would ensure savings in terms of costs to the government.
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