Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation along with Pralhad Singh Patel, Union minister of state for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation along with the representatives of the chief ministers of different states took part in the workshop.
[File Photo]
Dr Manas Bhuniya, state minister for water resource investigation and development department has suggested formation of water users’ association (WUA) for optimal use of irrigation infrastructure. He was addressing a national workshop on Water Vision 2047 in Bhopal yesterday.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation along with Pralhad Singh Patel, Union minister of state for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation along with the representatives of the chief ministers of different states took part in the workshop. Dr Bhuniya maintained that the small groups of farmers cooperate with the state government for optimal use of irrigation infrastructure. Interaction between the farmers and government officials take place regularly and the farmers having land in the command area of irrigation infrastructure are made members of WUA.
Trust building is the most important work once the water users’ association is formed. The WUA will work with transparency with up to date cash book, regular meetings etc. In West Bengal so far 2,540 WUAs have been registered, he pointed out. The capacity of the WUA is done through training of the farmers for operation, maintenance of irrigation infrastructure and better management of water resources to maximize return for water in a sustainable way. After irrigation infrastructure is created, it is handed over to the WUAs.
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They impose water charges among members. The water charges imposed by the WUAs vary between Rs 50 to Rs 100 per hour or Rs 600 to Rs 1000 per bigha. Across the state the WUAs have accumulated a corpus of more than Rs 6 crore which they use for operation and maintenance of the irrigation infrastructure. He said the irrigation infrastructure is being run by solar power. Dr Bhuniya said the West Bengal model was ideal and suggested that it should be replicated in other states.
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