VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has performed well in the implementation of Centre’s watershed programme. Out of the total 373 projects sanctioned with a financial outlay of Rs 2,294 crore, the State has completed 261 projects and stood one among the top five performing States in the country.The effective implementation of the watershed programme increased the groundwater levels, vegetation and plantation in the State.
Dr CP Reddy, Senior Additional Commissioner, Department of Land Resources (DoLR), Government of India, who came to the State from New Delhi to take stock of the progress of the Watershed Development Component-PMKSY programme, in an interaction with TNIE, said that AP is one of the important States which is implementing the programme effectively. After completing 261 projects, the AP government submitted completion and evaluation reports to the Centre.
“The overall performance of the State is good. But the State is yet to complete 112 projects and utilise more than `69 crore. Though the time for completion of the projects was ended by September 30, 2021, the Centre extended the deadline till March 31, 2022 considering the request from the State government,’’ he said and wanted the officials to complete the projects by then.
Under the programme, about 2.60 lakh hectares of land were brought under protective irrigation, 13.45 lakh hectares of degraded land and 11,919 hectares of culturable waste land were treated and brought under cultivation and 38,578 hectares of land were brought under horticulture plantation and afforestation.
The DoLR will soon launch a new generation of watersheds 2.O (new projects) for treating 5 million hectares of degraded land across the country with modified guidelines and enhanced cost norms.
Reddy expressed satisfaction over programmes such as injection wells, greening of hillocks being implemented by the state level nodal agency with the motto of increasing groundwater and rejuvenation of vegetation on barren hillocks.
Later in the day, Reddy visited the Survey, Settlement and Land Records Commissioner’s office and Tahsildar Office at Penamaluru and inspected the digitisation of land records, modern record rooms, purification of land records and resurvey under Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) programme and expressed satisfaction over the progress.