Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said during Question Hour that in the past eight years the government had added an additional irrigation potential of over seven million hectares.
Bansal said the government had plans to have an ultimate irrigation potential for 140 million hectares.
The Ministry is providing Central assistance to state governments for Creation/Utilisation of irrigation potential, through schemes like Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM), and Repairs, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies, he said.
The vision for Integrated Water Resources Development & Management proposed by the Ministry in 2003 stipulates to add irrigation potential of 20 million hectares in the next 15 years to meet the requirements for a projected population of 1.2 billion by 2015 and 1.6 billion by 2050. PTI SKU SMI