irrigation projects in State mounts to Rs 1.09 lakh crore as balance costs : Sanjay Patil

Sanjay Patil : Nagpur : As per the latest Governor’s Directives, 123 projects now need Rs 43,560.57 crore for completion. The number of projects needing funds for completion has come down by 11 in one year, but the required amount has increased by Rs 10,439.10 crore. According to officials in the know of things, but wish to remain unnamed, the number of projects getting completed has been a fact in the past years. Though the number of projects requiring funds for completion has come down, the balance cost is rising for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons, they said, included time overrun resulting in cost overrun. But, the biggest reason behind time overrun has been that the actual availability of funds is much lesser than the requirement for completion of projects.

Besides, some issues regarding prioritisation had affected completion of projects. In fact, the Governor of Maharashtra also has been issuing directives to the State Government for ensuring completion of projects. The Governor had directed previously that projects nearing completion should be given priority as far as funds allocation was concerned. Land acquisition, rehabilitation, net present value charges, and funds required for other clearances should be given priority. Also, there should not be any diversion of funds from one region to the another. This year, too, the Governor has considered the huge balance cost of ongoing irrigation projects and has cautioned about the thin-spreading of resources.

“The work on any new project shall not be started till the State Government is able to make adequate additional resources available to complete these new projects within a defined time-frame, without affecting the availability of funds for the ongoing works. In view of the enormity of the liabilities, these directions shall continue to operate,” the Governor has mentioned in his latest directives issued a few days ago. It will be interesting to watch how the Maharashtra Government decides on prioritisation of irrigation projects, and manages to complete those in the given allocation of resources. Also, it will be interesting to watch whether rainfed region of Vidarbha gets better attention as far as completion of irrigation projects is concerned.

With each passing year, the ‘balance cost’ of irrigation projects in Maharashtra is increasing. As per the latest Governor’s Directives to the State Government for the year 2020-21, the balance cost of irrigation projects in the State as on April 1, 2019 was pegged at a whopping Rs 1,09,390.17 crore. Interestingly, the Governor’s Directives for the year 2019-20 had stated that the balance cost of irrigation projects in Maharashtra was Rs 83,663.77 crore as on April 1, 2018.

 

Thus, in one year, it is evident from the Governor’s Directives issued the last year and this year, the balance cost of irrigation projects in the State has increased by a huge Rs 25,726.40 crore. The Governor’s Directives for the year 2019-20 mentioned that there were total 334 irrigation projects in the State that required Rs 83,663.77 crore for completion. Now, the Governor’s Directives for 2020-21 reveal that the number of irrigation projects that need funds for completion has come down to 313, but the cost required for completion has gone up to Rs 1,09,390.17 crore. This reflects that between April 1, 2018 and April 1, 2019, as many as 21 projects got completed. As far as Vidarbha region is concerned, 134 irrigation projects as on April 1, 2018 needed Rs 33,121.47 crore for completion.