PORVORIM: The WRD Department in its performance report claims to have spent a total of Rs 312.58 cr in the year 2017-18. The department spent Rs 174 cr on various works alone. Interestingly, last year the department had given a very low priority to water conservation efforts.
The National Hydrology Project, which the report claims to offer an opportunity to introduce new technology into water resource sector planning and management, was allocated Rs 24.4 cr in 2017-18 of which a mere Rs 2 lakhs have been spent. Although a total of 119 project were identified for Zuari River Basin Irrigation Project, no amount was spent last year and only Rs 10 lakh have been allocated this year. Rs 27.87 cr were allocated for National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project but Rs 1.03 cr was spent.
Even though the report claims that 1585 MCM of surface water resources can be conserved, no money was spent on Water Shed Development and Ground water recharge last year and a mere Rs 50,000 has been estimated for 2018-19. Roof-Top Rainwater Harvesting Scheme had been completely neglected with a token estimate of Rs 10,000 last year of which no amount was spent. This year a mere Rs 1 lakh expenditure has been estimated.
Although Rs 50 lakh was estimated in the “Nital Goem Nital Baim” scheme for repairs and renovation of existing wells, no money has been disbursed under this scheme.
Last year, the WRD did not spend any funds for Development of Schedule Caste schemes which included improvement of Surebanwada tank and Mahar Tali in Corgao at Pernem. Rs 11 cr was estimated under the “Development of Schedule Tribe Scheme” of which Rs 8.13 cr was spent last year.
On the other hand, the department spent Rs 66.799 crs on the Mandovi Irrigation Project which had an estimated budget of half the amount at Rs 35.4 cr. Minor Irrigation works crossed its allocated budget of Rs 109.33 cr to Rs 134.22 cr. Rs 6 cr was estimated for the Ground water monitoring and development, however, Rs 7.53 cr was spent. Construction and Deepening of Minor Irrigation Tank exceeded its budget by more than one-third from Rs 2.32 cr to Rs 3.18 cr.
Rs 64.5 cr had been estimated for Flood Control, anti-Sea erosion and Drainage. However the expenditure crossed the amount to Rs 73.25 cr. Of this amount, Rs 43 cr was spent on flood control, Rs 89.96 lakh on anti landslide measures and Rs 7.79 cr on anti-sea-erosion works.
