Jalayagnam: Actual area under irrigation has come down

HYDERABAD: Jalayagnam, the Congress government's most ambitious project till date and touted to provide a major boost to the irrigation sector, has thrown up facts that belie the claims of bringing more land under cultivation. A reality check indicates that the actual area under irrigation has come down by about 40,000 acres in the past few years.
Soon after coming to power, the Congress government then headed by Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had taken up 86 projects in fast-track mode.It has since been allocating a lion's share of budget for these projects. Between 2004 to March 2010 it has spent a massive Rs 53,206 crore and has completed only 12 projects while another 20 are partially completed. It also claims to have created about 23 lakh acres of new irrigation potential.
But a look at official figures indicates that during 2010 kharif season, area under irrigation has gone down by 50,000 acres when compared to 2004. According to official figures, the total area under irrigation under major, medium and minor irrigation projects in 2004 was 1.29 lakh acres. The government now claims that it has created an additional 23 lakh acres of irrigation potential which means that the area under irrigation should be 1.52 lakh acres. But the actual area which is getting water for irrigation is only 1.02 lakh acres.
It also claims that it will complete 19 projects during 2010-11 financial year. With half the year over and payment for over Rs 6000 crore worth of bills pending and with no additional help from the Centre, achieving the target appears to be doubtful.
Of the 19 projects which the government has targeted for completion during the current financial year, four projects__Vamsadhara, Venkatanagaram Pushkaram and Tadipudi__are in Andhra region. Seven projects__Guru Raghavendra lift irrigation project, Gundlakamma, Mylavaram canal, Chagallu barrage, Telugu Ganga project, Veligonda and Handri Niva__are in Rayalaseema while the remaining eight projects, A Madhav Reddy project, Devadula, Mathadivagu, C Hanumantha Reddy lift irrigation project, Gollavagu, Kinnerasani, Ralivagu and Neelwai projects are in Telangana region.
The government is also worried about the additional burden it may have to bear for supply of power to the lift irrigation projects. The total power requirement for these projects is estimated to be about 2800 MW as water will have to be lifted to an height of 100-300 metres. It is estimated that the cost per acre would be Rs 2000-Rs 6000 which means that the free power scheme will have to be extended to the LIs. According to approximate calculation, this would mean an additional burden of Rs 5,600 crore on the exchequer.