The Union government has orally conveyed to Tamil Nadu that it may not fund the State’s projects on the modernisation of the Cauvery basin. Instead, the Centre has advised the State to take loans from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) or seek external funding.
This was conveyed to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami during a discussion he had with Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari earlier this week, a senior government official said, adding that the Centre had cited shortage of funds as the reason for not being able to provide financial support to the State’s projects.
Two major projects
The State government is currently working on the formulation of two major projects concerning the Cauvery river system. Both are aimed at improving the efficiency of irrigation systems in the Cauvery, a subject that the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), in its final order of February 2007, talked about. One project deals with the Grand Anicut Canal sub-basin and the other, eight other sub-basins of the Cauvery.
DPRs being prepared
For the first project, the Union Water Resources Ministry had, last July, formally provided investment clearance. In April this year, the State government sent a detailed project report (DPR) to the Union Ministry, proposing to implement the project using the long-term irrigation fund of NABARD under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), which entails Central assistance of up to 60%.
In respect of the second project, DPRs are being prepared.
The official said there was a view within the government that as NABARD’s loans generally carried higher rates of interest, it would be better to approach multilateral agencies or the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).