Our Correspondent
Kohima | January 9
An outlay of Rs. 24350 lakh during 2017-18 was allotted to the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control for creating necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of the farming community through the programs ‘Har Khet Ko Paani’ under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna (PMKSY), Flood Management Program (FMP), Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM) and Repair & Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.
This was indicated in the Annual administrative report 2017-18 of the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control Nagaland.
The report also stated that 28 crore has been sanctioned in Nagaland by the Ministry of Water Resources for the implementation of the ‘National Hydrology Program’ for 8 year period (2016-17 to 2022-23).
Established in 1988, the main activities of the Department are construction of Irrigation Projects, Groundwater Development, Command Area Development and Flood Management Program (anti-erosion/drainage/flood mitigation). The department also conducts irrigation Census every five years.
According to the report, 159 Minor Irrigation Projects were taken up by the department costing 10960.347 lakhs. During the 2017-18, the department has submitted a DPR for 270 Minor Irrigation (MI) schemes at an estimated cost of 206.85 crore with a target to develop 8544 Ha of CCA for consideration of sanction by the Ministry of Water Resources. The scheme is scheduled to be implemented in two years.
The administrative report also stated that although the flagship program PMKSY guidelines stipulates that implementation of Command Area Development & Water Management is mandatory for availing funding for the minor irrigation, the State has not been able to effect the implementation of the project due to the State’s inability to fund 50 percent of the project cost.
The Department is also implementing the Tsurang Irrigation Project with an approved outlay of 1693.32 lakh for a Gross Command Area of 1878 ha. The department has received a total amount of 1352.326 lakh of Central share till date and the State’s share of 149.70 lakh. However the project has been temporarily stalled due to the partial damage of the guide walls during the flood in 2016. A revised DPR has been proposed to the government under State Plan for completion of the project.
Under the North East Council program, the department is also implementing five schemes (2016-2018) where 1052.74 lakhs has been sanctioned. The five schemes comprises of the Rutsa Multipurpose Irrigation project under Kohima District, Chathe Irrigation Project at Sochunoma under Dimapur District, Rain Water Harvesting project for Pughoboto, Ghathashi and Asukiqa area under Pughoboto sub-division, Zunheboto district, Soil Erosion Protection of Kieliereu Kam River at Jalukie, Peren District and Integrated Nzu Valley Irrigation project under Kohima District.
