The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $31 million loan to boost water availability in selected river basins in Karnataka.
This loan is the first tranche of the $150 million Karnataka Integrated and Sustainable Water Resources Management Investment Program approved by ADB in 2014.
This program will improve irrigation efficiency in three river basins in the State, saving 1,700 million cubic metres of water that could be used on an additional 160,000 hectares of farmland. Farming this additional land could increase farm incomes by about 50% and benefit about 1.5 million people.
“The first tranche loan will help modernise the Gondi irrigation system. Besides, the loan will help train and certify over 200 water resources department (WRD) staff in integrated water resources management and build capacities of water users cooperative societies,” said M Teresa Kho, Country Director for ADB in India, who signed the loan on behalf of ADB.
Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, in the Finance Ministry said that Karnataka is water-stressed, with increasing demand from urban and industrial sectors.
The irrigation sector in the State suffers from deficient infrastructure. The investment program will improve water availability to meet competing water demand in selected river basins, said Kumar who signed the agreement on behalf of Government of India.
srivats.kr@thehindu.co.in