Rachchabanda eats into irrigation projects

HYDERABAD: The irrigation projects which were allocated a lion's share of the state budget and were given top priority since 2004 seems to be losing its sheen for reasons like non release of required funds and the Krishna water tribunal award and now the Rachchabanda programme.According to sources, the cash-strapped government has informed the irrigation department that it cannot release more than Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 crore in the next two months as it had to release Rs 1,200 crore for the Rachchabanda programme. This comes at a time when the governor in his Republic Day speech said that the Kiran regime is committed to complete as many as 43 projects under Jalayagnam in the next two years and provide irrigation to 38 lakh acres of ayacut.Sources in the irrigation department claimthat the government had not released any funds for the month of January since ithad to fund the Rachchabanda programme and this had further affected the ongoingworks and clearing of pending bills.Though the irrigation departmentwas allocated Rs 15,000 crore, so far only Rs 6,000 crore has been released. Ifthe finance department releases another Rs 2,000 crore, the department would endup spending only Rs 8,000 crore out of its allocated funds. According tosources, the finance department has also asked them to cut down the budgetarydemands for the year 2011-12. During the pre-budget discussions, the irrigationdepartment had demanded Rs 34,500 crore to complete the 44 top priorityirrigation projects by March 2012.The irrigation department feelsthat the funds meant for the department have apparently been diverted to clearthe backlog of fee reimbursement and scholarships and now the Rachchabandaprogramme. The department is yet to clear pending bills to the tune of Rs 2,400crore."Unless the state government releases adequate funds, it wouldnot be possible to release water from any of the projects, which have beencompleted to the extent of 70-90% even by the time Kharif season starts in Junethis year," according to the minister for major irrigation B SudarshanReddy.Meanwhile, the irrigation department would convene a meetingof experts and senior officials on January 29 to discuss on the stand it shouldtake before the Krishna water tribunal when a review petition isfiled.