Irrigation plans above Rs 5 cr need finance ministry nod

The right of the water resources ministry to give 'administrative sanction' to any irrigation scheme above Rs 5 crore without prior approval from the finance ministry was withdrawn by the state government recently.

The gazette notification to this effect was issued on November 29. The notification says that all projects for which a financial outlay of more than Rs 5 crore is required would need administrative clearance from the state finance ministry.

The sources in the finance ministry pointed out that an outlay of Rs 176 crore was fixed in the FY05 budget for minor, small and medium-sized projects. In 2005-06, the allocation for the water resources ministry went up to Rs 875 crore, nearly a five-fold increase in a year.

After noticing this sudden rise in the budget for water resources ministry, officials in the finance ministry raised the issue with finance minister Jayant Patil, who in turn brought the issue to the notice of water resources minister Ajit Pawar.

A meeting of the senior officials from finance and water resources ministry took place recently where a decision was taken to put a cap on the ministry's power to sanction projects over Rs 5 crore.

Explaining the logic behind the decision, sources in the finance ministry said, "One major feature of irrigation projects is that they have a long gestation period and that means one has to make provision for these projects year after year. If in a single year, several new projects are started, then the state government would be forced to make allocations for these projects several years in a row. Otherwise, the projects undertaken would drag for a number of years and huge chunk of state's capital would be locked up in an incomplete project."

The official further said, "Till 1994, like all other ministries, the water resources ministry was also required to take administrative sanction for their projects from the finance ministry."

Bacchawat Commission had set a deadline of 1999 to all the states who shared Krishna water to utilise their share of water. So the state government took a decision in 1994 to cut down administrative delays and gave power to sanction irrigation projects of any size to the water resources ministry.