The State Budget presented on Friday places emphasis on improving drinking water supply and kick-starting small-scale irrigation schemes in 2021-22 in addition to rejuvenating several disrupted Jalanidhi schemes.
₹1,300 crore will be spent in 2021-22 on providing tap connections to 12 lakh rural households under the Centrally assisted Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). Of this, the State government’s share would be ₹400 crore, while local government institutions and beneficiaries would contribute ₹250 crore and ₹130 crore respectively, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said in his Budget speech.
The 2021-22 Budget earmarked ₹285 crore for the drinking water schemes of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA). The government also set aside ₹635 crore for the Neyyar and the Aruvikkara water supply projects of the KWA. Sixty drinking water schemes worth ₹4,046 crore with KIIFB assistance were under various stages of construction, Mr. Isaac noted.
The government would spend ₹30 crore on rejuvenating Jalanidhi projects that have partly or completely ceased to function. While 4.51 lakh families were provided drinking water through 5,889 small-scale schemes of Jalanidhi, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) noted that 35% of projects in the first phase had partly or completely ceased to function.
In addition to this, ₹10 crore was allocated for groundwater recharging and rainwater harvesting. Under the Haritha Kerala Mission, water quality standard assessment labs would be set up in higher secondary schools. Water budgets would be formulated in selected block panchayats.
Irrigation
The Budget also set apart ₹168 crore for small-scale irrigation. Micro-irrigation schemes would continue with the aid of the NABARD. Of this, ₹26 crore would be for lift irrigation and ₹25 crore for ground-water development and recharging. ₹49 crore would be earmarked for medium and small-scale interstate river water conservation works in Kabani, Bhavani, Pampa and Kaveri basins.
The Budget earmarked ₹25 crore for the Kanjirapuzha and Chitturpuzha projects, which would be taken up in this year. ₹40 crore had been allocated for the Idamalayar and the Muvattupuzha river irrigation projects and ₹4 crore for completing the Chamravattom project. ₹216 crore would be made available for 16 dams in the second phase of the World Bank-assisted Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP).
