Government proposes expanding of water bodies repair

New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) The Government today proposed to extend the externally aided Project for Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water bodies throughout the country.

The RRR projects of Orissa and West Bengal are pending appraisal. A World Bank Loan agreement has been signed with Tamil Nadu for Rs 2182 crore for restoring 5763 water bodies having a Culturable Command Area (CCA) of 4 lakh hectare, Andhra Pradesh for Rs 835 crore for restoration of 3000 water bodies with a CCA of 2.5 lakh hectare and with Karnataka for Rs 259 crore.

The 'National Project for RRR of Water Bodies directly linked to Agriculture' was sanctioned in January 2005 with an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore. The Scheme was approved for 26 district projects in 15 states including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 299.92 crore.

Central Share of Rs 179.73 crore has been released to the states so far.

The 1098 water bodies with a total original CCA of 1.72 lakh hectares will be irrigating an additional 0.78 lakh hectare after completion of RRR works. The physical works for restoration have been completed in 736 water bodies in 11 states so far, an official sources said.

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