By IANS
New Delhi : The government Thursday approved a Rs.437 billion assistance to the ongoing spilled-over irrigation projects of the 10th Five-Year Plan and new ones taken up during the current Plan period.
Funds would be made available under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP). A meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the outlay for the AIBP.
“A large number of ongoing and new irrigation projects stand to benefit from the allocation. It will also help to achieve targeted irrigation potential under the central government’s Bharat Nirman programme,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told mediapersons.
Notwithstanding the fact that agriculture being a key component of Indian economy, as per an estimate only around 40 percent of land under cultivation is irrigated, and the rest depends on the rain.
At the beginning of 10th Plan (2002-07), there were 494 ongoing irrigation projects both approved and unapproved. It comprised 173 major, 235 medium and 86 extension, renovation and modernization (ERM) projects spilled over from the previous Plans.
As on April 1, 2006, there were 452 ongoing irrigation projects both approved and unapproved, of which 157 are major, 212 medium and 83 ERM.
The cabinet also approved the proposal to implement certain national projects with the central assistance of 90 percent of their cost as grant.
The projects falling in this category would include such international projects where the usage of water in India requires a treaty or where planning and early completion of the project is necessary in the national interest.