(a) whether the Government is considering on restoring reservoirs like old dried ponds, wells, rain water harvesting structure etc.;
(b) if so, the details of places identified for this purpose, State-wise;
(c) the number of reservoirs restored during the last three years; and
(d) the action plan of the Government for the next three years?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI & SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
(SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA)
(a) to (d) Central Government supports construction of water harvesting and conservation works primarily through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It includes the following activities:
i. Creation of water conservation and harvesting structures to augment and improve ground water like underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, check dams with special focus on recharging ground water including drinking water sources.
ii. Renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of irrigation tanks and other water bodies and conservation of old step wells or baolis.
The works under MGNREGS are being carried out in 34 States/UTs in 26,26,522 Gram Panchayats under 6921 Blocks of 691 rural Districts.
The details of renovation of traditional water bodies completed during the last three years under MGNREGS are as under:
RENOVATION OF TRADITIONAL WATER BODIES COMPLETED DURING LAST THREE YEARS UNDER MGNREGA
YEAR Nos. of works completed
2016-17 1,67,111
2017-18 1,34,758
2018-19 81,358
Contd…P/2
//2//
As per information received from Department of Land Resources, they have sanctioned 8214 watershed development projects in 28 States (except Goa) (during the period 2009-10 to 2014-15) covering an area of about 39.07 million hectare under Integrated Watershed Management (IWMP). The activities being undertaken through the watershed development projects inter alia include ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rain water harvesting, nursery raising, afforestation, horticulture, pasture development, livelihoods for assetless persons etc.
The State wise details of projects sanctioned, area covered by the projects and funds released as Central share to Sates are given at Annexure.
Further, the projects sanctioned earlier are at various stages of implementation. Administrative reports of completion of 2364 projects have been received till 31.03.2019 from 18 States. As per the information received from the States, between 2016-17 to 2018-19, 3,73,637 water harvesting structures were created / rejuvenated.
In addition, total Central Assistance amounting to Rs.369.11 crore has been released to the States upto March, 2019 under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) – Har Khet ko Pani- Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies Scheme.
Government of India has launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan which is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of 256 districts in India. In this regard, team of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti have been deputed to visit water stressed districts and to work in close collaboration with district level officials to undertake suitable demand side and supply side interventions.
Water being a State subject, initiatives on water management including conservation and artificial recharge to ground water in the Country is primarily States’ responsibility. Further, important measures taken by the Central Government for conservation, management of ground water and effective implementation of rain water harvesting in the country are at the following URL:
http://mowr.gov.in/sites/default/files/Steps_to_control_water_depletion_Jun2019.pdf
*****
ANNEXURE
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) of Unstarred Question No. †5434 to be answered in Lok Sabha on 25.07.2019 regarding “Restoring of Water Reservoirs”.
State-wise details of number of projects sanctioned, area covered by the projects and funds released as Central share under WDC-PMKSY.
(Area in Million Ha, Amount in Rs Crore)
Sl. No. State Sanctioned
(from 2009-10 to 2014-15) @ Central share released (from 2009-10 to 2018-19)#
Total No. of Projects Area of the Projects
1 Andhra Pradesh 432 1.810 987.92
2 Arunachal Pradesh 156 0.467 244.33
3 Assam 372 1.577 454.08
4 Bihar 123 0.612 151.31
5 Chhattisgarh 263 1.195 307.88
6 Gujarat 610 3.103 1288.64
7 Haryana 88 0.362 98.70
8 Himachal Pradesh 163 0.840 283.58
9 Jammu & Kashmir 159 0.652 230.82
10 Jharkhand 171 0.911 191.52
11 Karnataka 571 2.569 1872.94
12 Kerala 83 0.423 109.30
13 Madhya Pradesh 517 2.937 1409.87
14 Maharashtra 1186 5.128 2413.95
15 Manipur 102 0.491 149.10
16 Meghalaya 96 0.236 173.03
17 Mizoram 89 0.373 259.89
18 Nagaland 111 0.476 499.30
19 Odisha 310 1.700 1004.31
20 Punjab 67 0.314 60.42
21 Rajasthan 1025 5.764 2415.27
22 Sikkim 15 0.066 22.08
23 Tamil Nadu 270 1.368 924.94
24 Telangana 330 1.399 593.01
25 Tripura 65 0.213 200.21
26 Uttarakhand 65 0.346 131.08
27 Uttar Pradesh 612 3.045 808.49
28 West Bengal 163 0.693 178.15
Total 8214
39.07
17464.12
@ Sanctioned under the erstwhile Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), which has been amalgamated as the Watershed Development Component (WDC) of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) with effect from 2015-16.
# including releases under the erstwhile IWMP.
Note: 1) WDC-PMKSY is not operational in the Union Territories.
2) There is no sanctioned project in Goa.
*****