Irrigation costs soar despite regime change: ₹2.5 lakh cr needed to finish 225 projects approved since 2022

Data presented last week before the state cabinet shows the trend has continued despite a change in regime

Mumbai: Since the BJP-led Mahayuti government first came to power in July 2022, it has approved 225 proposals for irrigation projects, including proposals for new projects worth ₹1.18 lakh crore and cost escalations exceeding ₹60,000 crore for ongoing projects, according to data presented by the irrigation department before the state cabinet last week.

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Completing all 225 projects would require an additional ₹2.56 lakh crore while nearly half of the work orders awarded since July 2022 pertained to Vidarbha and the Marathwada, the data shows; these regions are historically affected by irrigation backlogs and are considered strongholds of the ruling coalition.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance had assumed power in July 2022, alleging the earlier Congress-NCP government was involved in an irrigation scam and had provided revised administrative approvals leading to steep cost escalations.

The data presented last week before the state cabinet shows the trend has continued despite a change in regime. Irrigation department officials blamed an increase in scope of work and high costs of land acquisition as a key reason for cost escalation.

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Irrigation minister Girish Mahajan repeated the claim, saying. “Many of the projects have been ongoing for 25-35 years. Several were sanctioned but not executed in a time-bound manner while land acquisition rates increased multiple times. This is the primary reason for cost escalation.”

The state government was prioritising projects in Vidarbha and Marathwada due to their vulnerability to farmer suicides and drought, the minister noted.

But irrigation sector experts said the main reasons behind rise in costs were political and administrative.

“Our governments irrespective of political ideology have approved far more projects compared to the capacity for execution in order to please regional political leaders or with an eye on elections. They also don’t have enough money to allocate for these projects every year. So none of the projects get completed and delays add on costs,” said Sudhir Bhongale, who has written several books on irrigation.

The government should stop undertaking new work and focus on projects nearing completion, he said.

Review after Shinde nudge

Irrigation department officials said that a few months ago, when deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde was granting revised administrative approvals for several irrigation projects, he had questioned department officials about similar revised approvals in the past. The department was subsequently asked to compile a presentation on irrigation projects approved since July 2022, officials said.

The presentation made by the department before the state cabinet last week provided

details on funding, water storage, and irrigation coverage for 225 projects. Among these, 41 projects had been completed, adding 105 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water storage capacity and bringing 2.95 lakh hectares of agricultural land under irrigation. Completing all 225 projects would require another ₹2.56 lakh crore; the projects would enhance water storage capacity by 186 TMC and irrigation coverage by 19,72,313 hectares, the presentation said.

Irrigation department officials said that of the 2.56 lakh crore needed to complete the 225 projects, around ₹1.18 lakh crore was required for river-linkling projects such as the Wainganga-Nalganga link, Nar-par project, Damanganga-Godavari link and Damanganga-Vaitarna-Godavari link.

According to the presentation, since July 2022, work orders worth ₹42,127 crore had been awarded, of which ₹21,994 crore was allocated to Vidarbha and Marathwada. In Vidarbha, where 86 projects require ₹1,48,024 crore for completion, tenders worth ₹11,425 crore have been issued since 2022. In the neighbouring Marathwada, where 45 projects require ₹42,187 crore for completion, tenders worth ₹10,569 crore have been awarded to create 13.43 TMC storage capacity.

Cost escalations had continued despite the Mahayuti government appointing a state level committee for scrutiny of cost revision following the irrigation scam, department officials said.

“Since 2013, the compensation for land acquisition has also become 4-5 times the market rate, which increases cost during completion of the distribution network of irrigation projects. Additional works related to distribution network storage ponds and lift irrigation schemes add to the costs,” an official said, requesting anonymity.