New Delhi : Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today said that Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) is a World Bank aided Central Sector Scheme of Government of India with total outlay of Rs 6000 crore, out of which Rs. 3000 cr. will be loan from World Bank. The main focus of the scheme is on community participation and demand side interventions for sustainable ground water management in identified water stressed areas of seven States – Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This scheme is expected to contribute significantly towards the water and food security of the participating States.
The Scheme has two components, viz. i) Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building Component, aimed at strengthening the ground water governance mechanism in the participating States and ii) Incentive Component, aimed at incentivizing the States for various measures including adoption of practices for efficient water use and supply side interventions for ensuring the long-term sustainability of ground water resources.
The budget allocations for the seven States for 2020-21 was Rs.109 Crore and for 2021-22 is Rs.307 Crore. State wise funds disbursement for both the years is given below-
| STATE | Financial Year 2020-21
(Rs. in crore) |
Financial Year 2021-22
(Rs. in crore) |
| Funds disbursed | Funds disbursed
(as on 22.07.2021) |
|
| Gujarat | 10.26 | 3.71 |
| Haryana | 20.80 | 9.63 |
| Karnataka | 21.52 | 5.73 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 6.33 | 2.93 |
| Maharashtra | 20.35 | 10.20 |
| Rajasthan | 22.05 | 10.36 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 7.69 | 2.88 |
| Total | 109.00 | 45.44 |
Scheme is not being implemented in Andhra Pradesh.
The scheme envisages active participation of the communities in the participating States in various activities such as formation/strengthening of Water User Associations, monitoring and disseminating ground water data, water budgeting, preparation of Gram-Panchayat wise water security plans & their implementation through convergence of ongoing schemes and IEC activities related to sustainable ground water management. Participation of women has been ensured by mandating 20% presence of women in the committees.
The scheme provides for installation of Digital Water Level Recorders for continuous record of ground water level data and an elaborate Management Information System (MIS)/Information Technology system for data collection and collation in order to use the same to meet the objective of the scheme.
Comments are closed.