Study picks loopholes in Neeru-Meeru

HYDERABAD: A study which evaluated Phase III of the Neeru-Meeru programme has found evidence to support the Opposition criticism that the scheme was more hype than substance.
The study, titled Neeru-Meeru, Who Pays? Who Benefits?, found that “with all the hue and cry about spending so much money on desilting tanks, the programme hardly yielded any additional water for irrigation. Where tanks were desilted, it only increased the dead storage of the tanks.’’
The study was done by the District Water Management Agency (DWMA), a government agency, in Warangal district, in coordination with Modern Architects for Rural India (MARI), an NGO, and was led by an expert in tank irrigation, Dr T Haranath.
The findings hold good for a majority of the Neeru-Meeru works in the state, according to Water Conservation Mission chairman T Hanumantha Rao. “Desilting below the sluice level of the tanks is a waste of money. It leads to no increase in irrigated land,’’ he said. “The guidelines given by the mission are not being followed properly.’’
The report casts doubts on the stated and actual expenditure of several Neeru-Meeru activities. “It is clearly evident that no records were maintained either at the water users association (WUA) level or at the government level,’’ the report says.
The study also found little evidence of the involvement of WUAs in implementing the programme.
In a majority of cases, selection of tanks was done arbitrarily with the involvement of the political establishment, the report says.
The use of machines for desilting left craters in the tanks, it said.