Irrigation: Project delays wash away Rs 1 lakh cr

Amid rising agrarian distress, cost overruns due to delayed irrigation projects have cost the Centre and states over Rs 1 lakh crore.

A total of 205 irrigation projects, whose original estimated cost was Rs 20,000 crore, would now cost Rs 1,16,242 crore, according to the ministry of water resources data.

The delays range from one to six years. The projects include 62 large and 49 medium scale projects. Many of these were started in the 5th and 6th Plan periods.

Out of the delayed projects, 27 are in Maharashtra, which has seen a spate of suicides by farmers in the Vidarbha region. The projects, whose original cost was estimated at Rs 1,300 crore, would cost around Rs 27,000 crore. This includes a cost overrun of Rs 1,8085 crore for 18 large projects and Rs 887.62 crore for nine medium projects. 
 

DAMNED DELAYS
(In Rs crore)	(Original estimate)	(latest estimate)
Upper Wardha project (Amravati)	39.88	951.33
Ghosikhurd (Nagpur)	461.19	5048.75
Surya (Thane)	19.35	379.26
Waghur (Jalgaon)	-12.28	374.10
(all are AIBP projects in Maharashtra, began in 1996, scheduled to end in 2001)

Among the delayed projects, 68 are being given Central grants under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP). In Maharashtra, all the 18 delayed projects have received funds under the programme and the special package for Vidarbha.

In other states, the cost overruns don't go beyond Rs 10,000 crore, except for Gujarat, where the cost of the Sardar Sarovar project has risen to over Rs 45,000 crore.

Dhansiri project in Assam, started in 1996-97, was scheduled to be commissioned in 2000-01. It is behind schedule by six years. The original cost of Rs 15.83 crore has now been revised to Rs 401.24 crore. Similarly, Saryu canal project in Uttar Pradesh, started in 1996, is behind schedule by six years.

To be completed in 2001, its cost has escalated from Rs 78.68 crore to Rs 2,377.82 crore.