National water authority, irrigation fund on anvil.

With BJP promising top priority to farm sector reforms, finance minister Arun Jaitley's maiden budget next month may announce setting up of a national water authority and an irrigation fund for speedier implementation of long pending projects in the country.

The national water authority may be on the lines of national highway authority (NHAI) which implements highway projects and the fund might be set up for mobilising resources for financing long term irrigation projects.

One of the major pro­m­ises made in the BJP ma­n­ifesto is inter-linking of riv­ers in the country, the idea mooted by Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government that has remained on paper barring a few minor pro­j­ects. In this connection se­v­­eral participants proposed setting up of river valley authority for implementing river linking projects.

The Ken-Betwa river linking project in MP is expected to get top priority from the Modi government, particularly after successfully completing the Narmada-Kshipra river linking projects. An area of 1.27 lakh hectares in Raisen and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh would be irrigated once the Ken-Betwa rivers are inter-linked.

Rajasthan is also set to implement NDA government's ambitious river linking by taking up two projects on a pilot basis - Bunandi in Mahi basin and Aahu river in the Chambal basin. During electioneering, Modi repeatedly emphasised on the need for linking of rivers through the country and how it could help resolve the water crisis in several areas.

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