NEW DELHI, Dec 30 — Flood control works in Assam is likely to hit as funds were curtailed by Planning Commission because of a delay by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) in submitting schemes for approval by competent authority. The MoWR did not submit flood control schemes among other critical proposals for approval leading to a drastic cut in budgetary allocation. As against a proposal for allocation of Rs 1,063.82 crore, all that the Ministry get was Rs 550 crore, which is almost half of what was sought. The reason the Planning Commission said was the apprehension that a higher allocation in 2002-2003 may result in blockade of developmental funds in proposals which are not ready for implementation. The Ministry has to prepare schemes for approval from the competent authority, the Planning Commission wrote to MoWR.
The schemes in question that are likely to suffer includes flood control in Brahmaputra Valley, critical anti-erosion works in Ganga Basin States and restructured Command Area Development (CDA). The lapse on part of the MoWR was severely criticised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to it. The committee wonder as to how the Ministry expect additional allocation of funds, when certain schemes are yet to be submitted to the Planning Commission for approval, it questioned. If the Ministry is really serious about getting higher allocation, they should chalk out detailed proposals on the schemes and seek the approval of the competent authority at the earliest. The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the Ministry should expeditiously forward the proposals for approval of the schemes, so that the Ministry can justificably ask for higher allocation from the Planning Commission for new schemes to be initiated at the earliest,” it was recommended.
The Ministry significantly has conceded that reduced plan outlay would mainly restrict the Ministry to initiate pipeline schemes including the Pagladiya Dam project and flood control in Brahmaputra Valley. For the Pagladiya project, for instance, the MoWR has to make do with Rs 45 crore as against Rs 60 crore proposed by it but rejected by the Commission. The Ministry has however, been assured that pace of expenditures can be reviewed in the course of the year. In other sectors also the Ministry faced criticism of the Parliamentary Committee. The committee has found that a whopping number of 159 major, 242 medium projects were pending completion in various States. The committee noted with distress that out of these 44 major and 10 medium projects were pending since the Fifth Five Year Plan.
According to the committee’s estimate around 20 Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) are expected to be completed by the end of Ninth Plan and 39 during the Tenth Plan period. The committee is dismayed at the very slow rate of completion of the projects and felt that it did not justify the huge investments made under the programme. There was a strong need for strengthening the monitoring machinery of the projects. Till the last financial year a whopping Rs 8,007 crore has been released under AIBP.