Curbs not to affect AP project

Disclosing this to mediapersons, Major and Medium Irrigation Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao and Minor Irrigation Minister B Gopalakrishna Reddy said that the WB’s decision was in appreciation of the AP government’s commitment to and its performance in implementing the reforms process in the State.

With this, the works taken up under the project would be completed as per schedule, Nageswara Rao said.

Of the total 543 million dollars, the irrigation sector alone accounts for 142 million dollars (Rs 647 crore), besides health, forests and agriculture sectors. The irrigation officials indicated that the assistance component may go up in view of the fluctuations in rupee value.

The constitution of around 10,800 water usersassociations (WUAs) last year was part of the reforms process in irrigation sector. Continuing the process, the government would give more powers to the WUAs, Nageswara Rao said.

Earlier, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the performance of the associations and discussed the steps to be taken for further strengthening them at all levels. While there were around 7,800 WUAs in minor irrigation, around 2,000 were in the major and medium irrigation sectors.

It was decided to provide all the WUAs with mobile wireless sets and Motorola communication gadgets to contact the irrigation department officials and monitor the release of water into canals. This was appreciated by the WB and other experts, the minister said.

Meanwhile, the irrigation department had conducted a feedback survey on the elected representatives of WUAs recently. In tune with the majority opinion, the chief minister had agreed to extend the term of the WUAs from the present two years to five years, Nageswara Rao said.

It wasdecided to allow the distributory committees to undertake the works on all major projects in view of the absence of project level committees. The WUAs would also be permitted to collect water cess and other taxes from next year to maintain the canals.

The ministers said that the chief minister had expressed satisfaction over the progress of works undertaken by the WUAs during the last two months. Around 14,682 works worth Rs 74 crore were in full swing and would be completed by the end of July.

So far, the State government had released Rs 107 crore to the WUAs to undertake all the canal repair works.