Building large dams for its own sake was counter-productive and only served to benefit contractors, Union Minister for Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari, said at a conference of irrigation-engineers and water-ministry officials.
“There are several dams but in many instances the farmers aren’t able to access waters from here. There should be smaller dams, check dams barrages,” he said as the keynote speaker at a daylong conference on Command Area Development under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), “Else the only beneficiaries of dam projects will be contractors and middlemen.”
Command Area Development Programme was launched by Government of India in 1974-75. It was restructured and renamed as Command Area Development and Water Management (CADWM) Programme in 2004. The programme was being implemented under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) as a component of Har Khet Ko Pani. From July, 2016 onwards, the CADWM implementation was focused on a mission-mode completion of the 99 Priority Irrigation projects through NABARD funding. Two of the main objectives of PMKSY are Har Khet Ko Pani and More Crop Per Drop.
Gadkari said his ministry had prioritised 99 projects at a cost of Rs. 78,000 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP). Rs. 29,000 crore of these has been marked for CAD to develop canal systems.
