Kangra irrigation projects in limbo for want of funds

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, May 22

Various irrigation projects started by the present state Congress government in Kangra district are now in limbo due to changed policies of Centre and want of grant.

Over 40 kuhls in Kangra district are lying incomplete. Some of the kuhls that are lying incomplete include GP Rajiana kuhl, Pathiar-Ambari kuhl, Sukkar kuhl from Manooni rivulet, Dhumal kulh in Shahpur and Rani di kuhl in Palampur. Kuhls are channels, in which water coming from the hill streams is channelised to the fields. It is the most eco-friendly method of irrigation practised in the hills.

Sources in the IPH Department said 109 micro-hydel projects or kuhls in Himachal that were earlier approved by the Centre had been shelved. The projects have been shelved as the Centre has not released any fund for these schemes to the state government.

As per the documents available with The Tribune, As many as 109 micro-hydel schemes worth Rs 348 crore were approved by the Union Ministry for Water Resources during the stint of the previous UPA government for Himachal Pradesh. Most of these schemes were of construction of kuhls to carry water from mountain rivulets to fields. Kulhs are the most reliable and common form of irrigation in hilly areas of Himachal.

Work on the construction of these kuhls was to be carried from the financial year 2014-15 to 2017-18.

Initially, the project for the construction of kuhls was approved under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) by the Union Ministry for Water Resources. Under the project, the Centre was to contribute 90 per cent share in the construction of kuhls, whereas the state government was to chip in 10 per cent.

Later, the norms of the AIBP scheme were changed. Even the name of the scheme has been changed to the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sanchai Yojana. The state’s share in the scheme was increased to 30 per cent, while the Centre’s share was reduced to 70 per cent.

The state government had made a financial provision for the construction of the 109 kuhls in the Budget last year.

However, the state government later sent a communication to the field officers of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department that no work should be started on the construction on 109 sanctioned projects.

The foundation stone for the construction of some of these kuhls was laid by CM Virbhadra Singh.

Two major irrigation projects, including the Phina Singh canal and Chonj Khad project, that were initiated in Kangra district were also in limbo. The sources said both the projects were facing acute fund crunch, as the Union Ministry for Water Resources had almost dried the allocations for the said projects.

In the recent past, the Centre has also changed norms for granting funds for irrigation and flood control projects of Himachal. Earlier, as a special category state, Himachal was getting 90 per cent grants for irrigation and flood control projects.

However, now the grants for flood control projects had been cut to 70 per cent and for irrigation projects to 50 per cent. The remaining portion of grants would have to be contributed by the state government.

The sources said funds for the flood control and irrigation projects in the entire country had faced cut as the Union Ministry for Water Resources was diverting resources for the ambitious Rs 20,000 crore Ganga clean-up project of the Centre.