NEW DELHI: A recent report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources has drawn attention to the underutilisation of funds allocated to the country’s flagship Interlinking of Rivers (ILR) programme during the 2025–26 financial years.
Expressing serious concern over the slow pace of spending, the committee urged the Union government to accelerate project execution to ensure timely completion. According to the report, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), which is responsible for implementing river interlinking under the National Perspective Plan (NPP) formulated in 1980, is overseeing 30 proposed link projects.
These include 16 projects under the Peninsular component and 14 under the Himalayan component. The overarching objective of these initiatives is to enable the transfer of water from surplus river basins to deficit regions, thereby enhancing water availability in drought-prone and rain-fed areas.
The committee observed that fund utilisation during 2025–26 has been notably inadequate. While the Budget Estimates (BE) initially earmarked Rs 2,400 crore for the scheme, this was subsequently revised down to Rs 1,808.29 crore at the Revised Estimates (RE) stage.
However, actual expenditure up to December 31, 2025, amounted to only Rs 453.16 crore. Officials from the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation attributed the shortfall to multiple factors, including delays in the construction of the Daudhan Dam, sluggish progress in state-level components, ongoing canal renovation works in Uttar Pradesh, and slower-than-anticipated advancement in Madhya Pradesh.
The panel stated that it is “dismayed” by the fact that only about a quarter of the revised allocation had been utilised by the final quarter of the financial year.
It noted that this reflects weak financial management and sluggish implementation under a scheme intended to tackle water scarcity, mitigate drought, and manage floods. In light of these findings, the committee recommended that the department, in close collaboration with state governments, adopt a more proactive strategy to expedite ongoing works. This, it emphasised, is essential for achieving efficient use of funds and ensuring that projects are completed within stipulated timelines.