16 development works halted in Mahendragarh due to paucity of funds

The Irrigation and Water Resources Department has put 16 development works reportedly on hold due to paucity of funds.

These projects worth Rs 31.02 crore were approved under the State Interdepartmental Steering Committee of the Atal Bhujal Yojana over four months ago. The works pertained to the construction of canal water storage tanks to provide irrigation facilities through sprinkler systems in various villages and recharge of riverbed and ponds.

“These works are not to be taken up through incentive funds of the Atal Bhujal Yojana. These are to be executed contingent upon the provisions of additional funds by the NPMU, New Delhi, Atal Bhujal Yojana. Ensure that no further actions are to be taken for the execution of these works,” states a communiqué sent by the Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation and Water Resources Department, to the district authorities.

Sources said 10 of the 16 projects were to be executed in Nangal Choudhary, three in Nangal Ateli, two in Narnaul and one in Mahendragarh area.

Interestingly, the department initially issued a list of 22 such development works. Later, the department reissued another letter excluding six works from the list stating that in the previous letter bearing the same number and date, six works were inadvertently included in the list.

Atal Bhujal Yojana is a Central sector scheme, which aims at sustainable groundwater management with community participation. Since water table has gone down considerably in Mahendragarh district, development projects are to be undertaken here under the scheme to recharge the water table and build canal water storage tanks for irrigation purposes.

Nitin Bhargva, Executive Engineer, Irrigation, said all 16 development works were approved conditionally.

“As per the condition, these are to be executed only when funds are available. So, these are already on hold due to non-availability of funds. Six others were mistakenly included in the list. However, there is no problem in executing these projects,” he said.