CAG flags series of overruns in UP’s major irrigation projects
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CAG flags series of overruns in UP’s major irrigation projects
Subject: Geography
Section: Places in map
Context:
- Canal irrigation is provided in only 17 per cent of Uttar Pradesh’s net irrigated area despite the government pumping huge amounts of money into its major irrigation projects, found a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
Details:
- The findings are critical as the economy of Uttar Pradesh is primarily agrarian, with about 65 per cent of the total population dependent on agriculture.
- Of a total24.09 million hectare area of the state,18.77 million hectares is agricultural land, of which 77 per cent is the net irrigated area.
- The two major canal irrigation projects:
- Bansagar Canal Project and
- The modernisation of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Lahchura Dam Project (also include Pahari Dam).
Bansagar Canal Project:
- Joint project between: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
- Located on: Son river
- The project aimed to increase the irrigation intensity of the nine existing canal systems from 85-150 per cent in the Culturable Command Area (CCA) of 0.23 million hectares in Prayagraj and Mirzapur districts.
Chaudhary Charan Singh Lahchura Dam Project:
- It provides water to Dhasan Canal System, with a CCA of 97,169-hectare area in Mahoba and Hamirpur districts.
- Lahchura Dam, apart from its own storage, receives water from Pahari Dam.
Issues with the canal projects:
- Insufficient water storage capacity.
- Unable to provide canal irrigation in the entire command area
- Current unavailability of water in the canal systems
- Low irrigation intensity
- Huge cost overruns due to delay in the project execution.
- Inadequate quality control