Irrigation projects in Odisha, which commenced as early as the 1980s and are yet to be completed, have seen an increase in cost ranging from 182 per cent to as much as 4,596 per cent, as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Surface Irrigation Projects in the state. The CAG report was tabled in the state legislature on Thursday. Despite cost escalations, only one major project, the Upper Indravati Irrigation Project, has been completed, while four other major projects were still in progress as of March 2021 for which further escalation of cost could not be ruled out, it said. The cost escalation has been attributed to various reasons such as delay in execution of works, increase in cost of land and increase in payment of Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) assistance due to policy revision, among others. The performance audit also revealed several deficiencies in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the projects. The report states that projects which commenced as early as 1978 were still ongoing with revisions to their completion date. This was mainly due to delay in land acquisition, forest clearance for canal alignment, delay in finalisation of design, etc. For instance, the ongoing Subarnarekha Irrigation Project (SIP) initiated in 1982 at an initial cost of Rs 211.68 crore is now estimated to cost Rs 6,715.96 crore. Of the seven projects audited, three have been completed so far. The total initial cost was estimated at Rs 955.73 crore. However, the revised estimation stands at Rs 19,103.63, of which Rs 12,742.11 crore has been spent so far. Even though the amount spent is 66.69 per cent of the total revised cost, the area covered so far is only 24 per cent of the target area. The irrigation projects have so far covered 1,22,418 ha against the proposed area coverage of 5,02,842 ha. The state has a cultivable land of 61.80 lakh hectares. It has been assessed that 49.90 lakh hectares can be brought under irrigation coverage through major, medium and minor (flow & lift) irrigation projects. A number of such projects have been constructed in the state in the last six decades, thereby increasing irrigation coverage from 1.83 lakh hectares in 1951 to 43.07 lakh hectares in 2020. "Implementation of projects was tardy, with delays in completion of projects ranging from 13 (Minor Irrigation Projects) to 43 (Rengali Right Bank Canal /Rengali Left Bank Canal) years. The delays were attributed to shortfall in land acquisition, inability to obtain statutory clearances of forest land in advance, changes in design and scope of work, etc. The delays in implementation of projects together with inefficient works management led to cost overrun of projects," the audit report stated. The audit found that though the spending efficiency of the authorities of test-checked projects ranged from 74 per cent to 99 per cent, a sum of Rs 842.98 crore was surrendered during 2014-20 without its immediate utilisation. The surrender of funds was mainly due to delay in handing over of a clear site for execution by the department, delay in obtaining mandatory clearances, etc, as well as poor monitoring by the department. The audit report also pointed out that while mega water lift projects were executed without ensuring the availability of water at the source, the ayacuts (area served) of minor irrigation projects were found to be overlapping with major irrigation projects due to a lack of coordination between executing officers of the same department. "In test-checked projects there was significant shortfall in ayacut achieved. It was revealed that in the ayacut of all test-checked projects, only paddy was being cultivated without adoption of a multi-cropping pattern. Consequently, all major projects ran the risk of becoming economically unviable," the report said.
