THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES (SHRI JAI PRAKASH NARAYAN YADAV)
(a) & (b) Irrigation being a State subject the irrigation
projects are planned formulated, executed and funded by the
State Governments out of their own resources and as per
their priorities. Central assistance is released in the form
of block loans and grants not tied to any sector of
development or project. As large number of major and medium
irrigation projects in the country are languishing due to
various reasons, the most important of them being financial
constraints of the State Governments, the Central Government
during 1996-97 launched the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits
Programme (AIBP) to provide Central Loan Assistance (CLA) to
approved ongoing major/medium irrigation projects which are
beyond the resource capability of the states or are in an
advanced stage of completion. Under this programme CLA/grant
of Rs. 17120.82 crore has been provided from 1996-97 to
2004-05 to the State Governments. For the year 2005-06 there
is a provision of Rs. 4500 crore under this programme.
(c) & (d) As per the guidelines of AIBP the State
Governments are required to enter in to a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) for each individual project under the
programme indicating balance cost, balance potential, year-
wise phasing of expenditure and balance potential.
Accordingly State Governments have indicated completion of
32 major/medium projects during 2004-05 and report of
completions of 8 major/medium irrigation projects has been
received. In view of the MOU the cost escalation is not
likely to happen.
(e) & (f) As per AIBP norms Central Loan Assistance (CLA)
is released in two instalments of 50 per cent each. The next
instalment of CLA is released only after Utilisation
Certificate is received from the State Governments for the
previous instalment provided. The loan assistance provided
to the State under the programme is recovered with interest
by the Government of India in instalments as provided in the
norms of the programme.
