Major irrigation projects to go.

The government is winding up all major irrigation projects and going to channelise more funds towards minor irrigation and lift irrigation projects, which are more suited to the geographic terrain of the State, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.

Replying to the discussion on supplementary demands for grants in the Assembly on Thursday, Dr. Isaac said that though there had been a general feeling in the House that the outlay of ₹762 crore for irrigation was not sufficient, the government was actually looking at ways to end all major and medium irrigation projects, except in Palakkad, for good.

These projects would fail every cost-benefit analysis if the money spent were to be compared to the acres of paddy irrigated through the project. The Kallada irrigation project which started at a cost of ₹16 crore had now crossed ₹700 crore, yet a good percentage of the project was used for recharging wells, which is a very expensive way of doing it, he pointed out.

These projects were not suited for the undulating geographic terrain of the State and many had not been completed even after 50 years. Irrigation projects were needed but there had to be a major change in strategy, Dr. Isaac said.

There would be no new irrigation channels. The focus would be on creating more minor irrigation projects and rehabilitating existing dams which was akin to building new ones.

As part of the water conservation campaign, efforts would be made to convert rivers themselves as reservoirs through regulators. Efforts would be made to utilise natural watershed areas and ponds as reservoirs and to channel only excess water for groundwater recharging, Dr. Isaac said.

He said that all efforts were on to fast-track the execution of projects under the KIIFB.

There were some limitations at the administrative level and more attention was needed on the design and details. Till now, the review meetings were being held at the Secretary-level but hence forth, the Finance Minister would also be part of the discussion, he said.

The KIIFB was a major initiative and the government was going forward with a lot of self confidence that the impact would be visible in the State in the next four or five years.

The Assembly passed supplementary demands for grants for ₹8,618 crore even as the Opposition boycotted the House proceedings.

THE HINDU