The Hindu Business Line : Renewed focus on urban, rural water supply

A REVAMP of irrigation infrastructure, restoration of water bodies and a renewed focus on urban and rural water supply were the key initiatives announced by the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in his Budget .

Mr Chidambaram described restoring water bodies as one of his "big dreams" and announced a pilot programme in five districts across the country with a proposed outlay of Rs 100 crore with funds drawn from existing rural development schemes.

"The scheme has the potential to address the irrigation and drinking water problems of the entire country if serious efforts are made by both the Centre and state governments. Our analysis shows that if worked along scientific lines, most water bodies can be restored," says National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) Director, Dr K.D. Sharma.

Roorkee-based NIH is already working on the restoration of the Nainital Lake in Uttaranchal under a Rs 50 crore restoration programme sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Apart from conducting an impact analysis of the catchment area cleaning up works carried out in the last two years, the Institute is working on means to siphon and clean the lakebed of accumulated pollutants, Dr Sharma said.

Similar restoration works are also underway at the prestigious Dal Lake in Srinagar. There are nearly a million natural or man-made water bodies, half of which are used for irrigation. But many of them have fallen to disuse.

The Government would converge all drinking water schemes under the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission to ensure that all 75,000 habitations, that are yet to be provided with safe water, get covered in a reasonable period of time.

The Government has stepped up the allocation for the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) to Rs 2,610 crore from 2,326 crore last year and restored the allocation under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) to Rs 2,800 crore this year, up from Rs 2,250 crore in the revised estimates for last year.

Mr Chidambaram said in his Budget speech that "last mile" projects under the AIBP that could be completed in the next couple of years would be given overriding priority.

To encourage rural water harvesting schemes, the Minister said that the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) would finance over one lakh irrigation units on easy terms during the year. The average cost has been worked out at Rs 20,000 per unit, for which the Government would provide 50 per cent subsidy through Nabard.

The Budget also has good news for Chennai residents with the country's first desalination plant to come up in the city. The proposed 300 million litres per day plant is expected to cost Rs 1,000 crore. The Minister said that more such plants would be taken up in due course.